Most founders start by asking how. How do I build a game? How do I monetize it? How do I market it? But the best founders we know start with why. Why does this game need to exist? Why will people care? Why now? A founder who starts with why builds something lasting. A founder who starts with how mostly just builds something.
It’s easy to fall into the how trap. The internet is full of answers to how questions. There are tutorials for everything—how to make a game in Unity, how to get featured on Steam, and how to optimize CPI on Facebook ads. If you want, you can spend months learning nothing but how.
And yet, most games fail. Not because the founders didn’t know how to make a game but because they didn’t understand why they were making it. A game without a clear why is just another product in an already crowded market. A game with a strong why has a reason to exist. More importantly, it is the reason for players to care.
When your why is clear, everything else follows. Game mechanics become more intentional. Your monetization strategy feels natural instead of forced. Your marketing isn’t just shouting into the void—it speaks directly to the people who need to hear it.
Compare an indie studio with a strong vision to a massive AAA publisher chasing trends. The indie game doesn’t have the biggest budget, which is exactly why it should know the why behind its game idea. And meaning beats budget more often than you’d think. This is why some of the most beloved games come from small teams. Because they weren’t just built well. They were built with purpose.
A useful framework here is Simon Sinek’s Golden Circle: Start with why, then move to how, and only then worry about what. The best game developers we’ve seen do this instinctively. They first obsess over the core reasons and experience first, and everything else comes later.
Let’s dive deep into some “Why over How” questions that game developers should consider before starting to code.
This applies to you as a founder, first. A great game isn’t just about how or what you build. It’s about why you’re the right person/team to build it. There are specific questions you need to ask yourself before starting the first line of coding.
Every great game balances two things: what the market wants and what only the founding team—who deeply understands the genre and players—can create the best. Great founders find that overlap. That’s what founder-market fit looks like in games.
They assume any good idea will work, regardless of who’s making it.
They choose markets they don’t deeply understand.
They try to appeal to everyone instead of focusing on a specific player community they know inside out.
The best game founders don’t just create—they create with conviction. They build something they uniquely understand, and they, themselves, want to play.
Reframe your approach as a founder. When the best founders build a game, they pause for a second. Before getting lost in how questions they ask:
Why are you building this game?
Why is your team the best team in the world to do this?
They find the intersection of why they care and why players will care. They build in genres they deeply understand. They know their player community’s needs and behaviors well and build thoroughly.
Play your team’s strengths. Just because something is popular, sounds sexy, or is easily doable doesn’t mean it fits your strengths.
Focus on the things you are good at and understand why you are good at them. This could be good storytelling, unique game design, special technical know-how, interesting art choice, or, best, the combination of many. Great founders take what they love and are good at and find the intersection. They build games that align with their skills and deeply understand every aspect of what they’re creating. Work on games only you and your team can create the best.
The best games aren’t built on mechanics or beautiful art alone. They tap into something deeper: a feeling, a desire, an unmet need.
Let’s take Minecraft, for example. It’s not the most complex game and doesn’t have the best graphics, but it answers a deep why—the desire for boundless creativity in an open world.
Most founders start with how. How do I design my gameplay mechanics? How do I make my art seem sexy? How do I make players pay? But building money-making mechanics and shiny art alone don’t make a game great. The best games aren’t just collections of payment systems, lovely environments, and features.
Founders who fail focus too much on execution and too little on purpose. They focus first on monetization and add today’s trendy mechanics or interesting art before they know why players would care in the first place.
They optimize for short-term engagement rather than lasting appeal.
They chase mechanics because they’re popular, not because they’re meaningful.
They forget that only good visuals don't keep players when gameplay doesn't attract and last.
Great founders start with why. Instead of asking how to build a game mechanic, they ask why it should exist. They understand that games aren’t just about shiny mechanics & art style. They’re about making it timeless and making players keep coming back. They ask why players love these game dynamics, not just how to make them. Some of the best games in history—Chess, Tetris, Minecraft—aren’t about being shiny and complex. They ask the bigger questions:
Why will players love this game?
Why does this story/gameplay attract players and keep them attached in the long run?
Why did we choose these core mechanics to satisfy our players?
Why is this game design approach good?
Why will people play this every day?
Instead of forcing their game to have shiny, complex mechanics being demanded today and focusing on monetization techniques early on, they understand why people will keep playing their game in the next 10-20 years, not just the next 6 months.
Gaming isn’t just about games or an isolated industry—it’s part of a bigger entertainment ecosystem. Movies, TV shows, books, music, and even memes can shape what players want. Social dynamics and world events—politics, pandemics, climate change—can create demand for new stories and experiences. A big movie franchise can drive interest in a game genre. A hit anime can make an art style more desirable. New technologies from XR to AI can shift where games go next. Cultural shifts create gaps most people don’t even know exist yet.
Understanding the existing market landscape is crucial. But, it's one-dimensional to think about creating a long-lasting title only based on today's market trends. Every year, there’s a new “hot” thing in gaming—battle royales, blockchain games, metaverse experiences. Some last, most don’t. The worst thing a founder can do is blindly chase what’s popular without understanding why it’s working and whether it temporarily changed player behaviors and expectations.
A game that exists just because something is trendy won’t last. Take NFT games, for example. Many founders jumped in, asking how to make an NFT game, not why players would care. Most of these games collapsed because they were designed around a financial mechanic, not a lasting emotional or gameplay experience. Axie Infinity, which was once worth $3B, lost 80% of its active users in a year.
They focus on execution before understanding the context of today’s market. They ask how to fit into today's market rather than why players gravitate toward certain experiences.
They assume what’s trending today is also what’s wanted in the long run.
They copy existing games without asking why they worked.
They design for short-term hype rather than lasting cultural impact.
They focus on how to launch instead of why now is the right time.
They don’t recognize when a market is oversaturated or too early.
They ask why these trends happen before deciding how to act on them. They use trends as a signal, not a strategy. They ask:
Why is this trend happening now?
Why are players engaging with this trend?
Why is this the right moment for my game to exist?
Why hasn’t someone done this successfully before?
Why will this matter five years from now?
A trend might mean players want something—but the best games find their own way to deliver it in the long run, whether through captivating gameplay or strong storytelling.
Recognize how global events impact gaming trends. For example, during the pandemic, some games exploded because they answered deep needs of that time:
Among Us thrived because people needed low-pressure social interaction. A small 2018 title surged to over 500 million players in 2020.
World of Warcraft, which had seen a decrease in MAU before the pandemic, rebounded to 7.25 million subscribers as players sought virtual communities to socialize digitally.
Animal Crossing: New Horizons became a cultural moment because it gave players a sense of control and routine. Released in March 2020, it sold 11.77 million copies in 12 days and 31 million by year’s end—while its predecessor took eight years to sell 12.45 million.
The Last of Us Part II resonated because dystopian narratives hit differently in 2020. The game sold 4 million copies on its first weekend, making it the fastest-selling PlayStation exclusive ever.
Spot cultural catalysts. Instead of chasing today’s trends only, ask what’s causing them and why. What bigger movements are shaping entertainment, what’s happening in our world, and why does your upcoming game fit in?
Understand what’s here to stay. Highly social interactions, community-driven play, deep storytelling, and immersive mechanics consistently drive retention across genres. Founders must comprehend the indispensable aspects of their genre and target players. Instead of focusing on what’s trending now, focus on what’s trending amongst your players for a long time and why.
Think ahead. The best founders don’t just chase what’s hot today—they figure out what’s next. You need to understand first why your game will last. Don’t just look at what’s happening now—a great game needs room and time to grow—look at what’s inevitable next. Some games were too early to create sustainable businesses, making surviving tricky for their founders. This includes most AR games before Pokémon GO and many VR games before Quest. Also, some games were just too late—battle royale clones chasing Fortnite, Web3 games built after the hype died.
Great founders don’t just think about why this game matters—they think about why now is the right time to build it.
A founder who starts with how, builds something. A founder who starts with why, builds something that lasts.
Before you write a single line of code, before you prototype a single mechanic, ask:
Why does this game need to exist?
Why will players love it?
Why now?
Why us?
If you have a strong enough why, the how figures itself out. If you can’t answer those “why” questions, don’t start building. Because how will never save you if your why stays weak.
Start with why. Always. They ask why from the very first moment of choosing their teammates to their game design, development, and player growth.
Play to their strengths. They build the games they are uniquely qualified to make.
Understand what lasts. They focus on long-lasting mechanics, player engagement, good storytelling, and immersive worlds that stand the test of time.
Use trends as signals, not playbooks. They recognize what players want but execute in their own way.
Shape culture, not just react to it. They create games that define trends, not games that merely fit trends.
Think long-term. They don’t build games for quick wins—they build for lasting impact.
Build for meaning, not just execution. Want to know if your game has a strong why? At least try explaining it to a friend who plays similar games in one sentence. If they get excited, you might be onto something. If they don’t, go back to the drawing board. It’s better to figure that out now than after you’ve spent years building the wrong thing.
At Lorien, we don’t just help founders build games—we help them build long-lasting game companies. We’re here to help founders ask the right questions at the right time and focus on what matters. Through world-class mentors, deep industry insights, and the right resources, we focus on giving them an edge—not just to make a game but to create a company that shapes the future of gaming.
Trends come and go, but great games, great teams, and great companies endure. If you're a founder with a vision for the future of gaming, we'd love to help you bring it to life. We are here to support, challenge, and guide you in building the future of gaming.
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