Beyond Playing Games: Ivan Marchand on Investing in the Video Game Industry

The global video game industry is a billion-dollar business—and has been for many years. In 2025, revenue from the worldwide gaming market was estimated at nearly $522.5 billion, with the mobile gaming market generating an estimated $126 billion of that total. Despite record-breaking revenues, the industry’s growth rate is projected to slow in the near future, according to Statista.

So, as the gaming industry evolves, where will the next generation of innovation—and investment—come from?

On this episode of Let’s Have This Conversation, I sit down with Ivan Marchand, President and Co-founder of Gamevestor, a regulated European crowdinvesting platform designed to open video game financing opportunities to individual investors while helping independent studios access the capital they need to bring new games to market.

Before launching Gamevestor, Ivan spent more than 15 years building and scaling digital businesses across Europe, the Middle East and Africa, including roles at Google, Amazon and Electronic Arts. His career has existed at the intersection of platform growth, strategic partnerships, revenue ownership, gaming, technology and entrepreneurship.

At Gamevestor, Ivan has helped build the business from the ground up, raising more than €1 million and reviewing more than 400 game studio applications while developing a new approach to connecting investors with early-stage opportunities in the global gaming market.

During our conversation, we explore the economics behind the video game industry, the challenges independent studios face when trying to secure funding, what investors should understand about financing video games, and why a bigger development budget doesn't necessarily guarantee a bigger return.

We also discuss what Ivan learned during his time at some of the world's largest technology and gaming companies, what it takes to scale a digital platform, how strategic partnerships drive sustainable growth, and how crowdinvesting could reshape the relationship between game developers, investors and players.

As gaming continues to mature into one of the world's most significant entertainment industries, this conversation examines an important question: Could opening access to video game investment help fund the industry's next generation of great ideas?

For more Information: https://www.gamevestor.co/

LinkedIn: @Ivan Marchand

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