Lia Zhang

Lia is a New York-based investor at Makers, where she partners with founders and creators who bring deep expertise and endurance to solving specific problems. Prior to joining Makers, she spent five years in early and growth-stage venture capital at Stripes and Primary Ventures, leading investments across consumer and fintech. A lifelong gamer, Lia's entrepreneurial journey began with selling custom user lookups on Neopets and hair mods for The Sims 2.

The New Studio Model: Cost Structure, Team Dynamics, and Creative Process
Efficiencies in game development are changing how teams are staffed, how budgets are allocated, and how fast teams can produce and ship games. For investors, this shift means needing a closer look at being more efficient with expenses, scaling, and long-term viability. This session will explore what the most successful studio investments will look like over the next 10 years, and which categories will produce the strongest companies.  

Possible questions to discuss include:

• What industry categories are producing strong, successful companies (toolsets, AI-native studios, UGC platforms, meta game economies, etc.)?
• What's the biggest structural change(s) to studio costs and investments in the next 10 years?
• Will AI reduce budgets, or will expectations for scope offset the savings?
• What kind of new game genres and playstyles feel like solid investments?
• What early signals help investors identify a studio that will be successful and scalable?