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Targeted advice, for every stage of game development.

Whether you've got an elevator pitch on a napkin, or have a game that's already had a lacklustre launch, our reports can steer you towards the right decisions -- for those stages, and everything in between.

Process

  1. You send what you have
    1.

    You send what you have

    Send us your materials. This could be a GDD, a pitch deck, or even just a concept and some questions. The more you provide, the stronger the output report.

  2. The system reads the market
    2.

    The system reads the market

    Our system analyses thousands of data points across PC storefronts, forums, viewing platforms and more. We compare titles, pricing patterns, audience signals, launch trajectories and player sentiment.

  3. Humans build the report
    3.

    Humans build the report

    A human carefully assembles the gathered data into clear feedback and evidence. We verify it, check against evidence, make it clear and readable, and sign it off before sending it out.

  4. You receive a clear, directional report.
    4.

    You receive a clear, directional report.

    You receive a complete report with findings, graphs and answers, with clear actionable paths to help you validate decisions, avoid risks, and give your game the best possible shot at success.

See some example pages from a Prelaunch Report

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Sample report page
Sample report page

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Abbey Games

34° 3' 58.7753'' S, 151° 0' 53.8632'' E

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Adriaan Jansen
Abbey Games

We're fast, accurate, and affordable.

We truly believe that access to quality decision support shouldn't be prohibitively expensive. We also see advice drenched in opinion, or misread signals. You shouldn't have to slash your development budget for objective peace of mind. People rely on Critical Compass for advice they can trust, at a price they can afford.

Turnaround time

Critical Compass

2 - 5 days

Traditional Consultants

3 - 6 weeks

Price

Critical Compass

Starting at $5,000

Traditional Consultants

$50,000 - $1,000,000+

Industry focus

Critical Compass

100% games industry

Traditional Consultants

Broad and non-specialised

Work ethics

Critical Compass

System powered + Industry Expert-reviewed

Traditional Consultants

Manual and Vulnerable to mistakes

Data use

Critical Compass

Secure with no cross-training

Traditional Consultants

Questionable

Simple, transparent pricing

Most Popular

Prelaunch Report

$5,000 USD per report

For any unreleased PC game

  • Full Market Ready
  • 360° competitor analysis
  • Audience sentiment
  • Price & release tracking
  • Genre differentiation
  • Verified & Evidence backed
  • Free re-run

Post Launch Analysis

$10,000 USD per report

For any released PC title

  • Core Features and Genre analysis
  • Competitor and similar games breakdown
  • Launch period review
  • Root cause of performance
  • Recovery and optimisation plan

Custom Reports & Agents

On Request

For any type of games business or question

Scoped to the research questions and complexity of use case. Tell us what you need, and we'll quote against it.

We currently only service the PC market. Console data and analytics are coming soon. Sign up to be the first to know as we add new datasets and features.

Why can't I just ask an LLM?

Ask any mainstream LLM to review your pitch deck or financial data... and then ask it the same question again, using a different account.

LLMs famously struggle with numbers, and numbers and sentiment are our sources of truth. We use machine learning and agentic artificial intelligence to progress our data science capabilities, but all of the actual reasoning and evidence is based on the real data which we have collected, sorted, and built models on for years. No hallucinating, no personal opinions, and no AI slop.

GYLD

34° 3' 58.7753'' S, 151° 0' 53.8632'' E

The games industry has never lacked market research; it has lacked market research worth paying for.

Emre Can Deniz
CEO, GYLD

How we get our info/ our data ethos

Critical Compass runs on data we've been collecting and refining since 2020, across many sources that give us a full picture of what's happening and why. Our data lake is a continuous, large-scale collection of public market signals: storefront performance, pricing, wishlist movement, review and community sentiment, streaming movement, and the real trajectories of thousands of comparable titles.

Our data science team also process and backfill data prior to 2020, giving us a wide view of past trends, mechanics, and market movement. Everything is gathered in legal line with the terms of the platforms involved, and every insight in a report traces back to it — so you're never asked to trust a conclusion you can't see the evidence for.

Questions? Let's chat.

Whether it's a question about the method, the data, or the decision you're facing, ask us. A real person answers: contact@gyld.agency