INSIGHTS: Q&A with Rob Graham, Founder of Savage Game

Gain insights on business growth in our series of bite size chats with Business Leaders, brought to you by The FD Consultant.

In this edition of Insights Q&A, we welcome Rob Graham, Founder of Savage Game.

Founded by Rob 8 years ago, Savage Game creates war themed games grounded in military history, and inspired by real heroes.

With clearly defined values and a laser like focus on community and support, Rob discusses the main drivers of business success to date, and the true inspirations behind their products.

We hope you enjoy this latest edition of Insights.

Hi Rob, please tell us about your business.

I set Savage Game Group up back in 2017 to work on a Vietnam war themed game as an extension of a popular game title called Arma 3.

We had no investment except for our own time invested for revenue share. Over the next 4 years we built the game we wanted to play, and in May 2021 it released to fairly universal acclaim.

Since then we have invested more time in creating updates, and expanded our ambition to include a standalone game, documentary, TV show, graphic novel series and museum projects.

We have a very rewarding relationship with the veterans of the Special Operations Association.

Our first game budget was $2.5m and our next planned game budget is $40m. Scaling up is an interesting challenge.

What are the key factors which have driven your growth to date?

Our game has been the top seller on the Steam Store and has outsold most of our publisher’s own titles for 3 years running.

This performance has come from the enthusiasm from the gaming community to celebrate our work, promote it in streams and on YouTube, and review it very positively on the Steam Store.

Behind the scenes, the team has kept the faith throughout the process from concept to delivery to extension. We could never have achieved this without them.

The team have worked at-risk over a 6 year period, and over 150 people in 37 countries were involved. Generating that trust, passion and commitment wasn’t easy, but has been possible thanks to the involvement of the extraordinary men who served as advisers to the team, who fought the Secret War in Laos in the 1960s and 70s.

Moving on from revenue share to cash investment, we are attracting world-class talent who believe in the studio and its material, but also in our approach.

As an artisan studio, who won’t sell out or bring in micro-transactions and other cash-extraction tools adopted by game studios who are primarily serving their shareholders at the expense of their communities.

We have very different values, and there are so many great creative professionals looking for studios and material like this to occupy the next stage of their career.

As an artisan studio, who won’t sell out or bring in micro-transactions and other cash-extraction tools adopted by game studios who are primarily serving their shareholders at the expense of their communities. We have very different values

Growth is as much about developing a self-motivated and enthusiastic team as it is about immediate financial returns for investors. There is a balance to strike to build lasting growth and success.

What makes you so passionate about what you do?

I was raised in a military family, and spent my formative years attached to the military and talking to World War Two veterans. I always had that team mindset. I also always enjoyed crafting games – boardgames, roleplaying, outdoors games, and eventually modding video games (from about 1995). I also like creative writing and have always noticed people liked my stories.

I got side-tracked working (usefully for society!) on sustainable business consultancy and education for two decades, and switched careers at 45 years of age.

Having the opportunity now to work daily with Special Forces veterans, to bring their stories out in the open for the first time, to reach new generations with tales of combat, heroism and teamwork, to bust open established myths and Hollywood BS, is, for us a life passion.

we don’t work a day in our lives. It’s an absolute passion

Taking this mission on, we don’t work a day in our lives. It’s an absolute passion, and like a snowball, we accumulate some spectacularly talented people as we roll along. It’s a huge buzz.

What do you view as your greatest achievement in this role to date?

Helping Paris Davis, an 83 year old retired green beret colonel, to get his situation noticed remains a career highlight for our entire team.

Back in June 1965 Paris saved 4 of his team mates from being overrun and killed by single-handedly fighting off hundreds of enemy soldiers, even with his fists and bayonet. He was shot four times, and lost teeth and fingers in the process. But he stood his ground and he ran out under fire and got his guys back to safety.

His Medal Of Honor package was disposed of by a racist in the chain of command as they didn’t want a black officer to receive the nation’s highest honour. His CO Major Cole resubmitted the paperwork in 1969 and again the Army “lost” his package. We helped by recreating scenes from the battle, which included in depth interviews with eyewitnesses.

Our game had all the pieces needed to effect dramatic reconstructions. The US Secretary of Defense wrote us a personal thank you letter, but the best thank you was when we stood in the White House and watched President Biden place the Medal Of Honor around Paris’ neck. The dignity and presence in his composure, receiving the the highest award for heroism (57 years late), and the elation of the team in that room that day will live with me forever. De Oppresso Liber.

The US Secretary of Defense wrote us a personal thank you letter, but the best thank you was when we stood in the White House and watched President Biden place the Medal Of Honor around Paris’ neck.

His book “Every Weapon I had” is due out this year. We’ve helped a little with that too.

What are the biggest challenges your business faces?

We have had a series of unfortunate experiences with accountants – which has caused me so much distress at times I have felt like giving up altogether. It has felt over the past 4 years that nobody will listen to me, or try to meet our needs. They seem to just want a business they can take regular fees from, and do the minimum possible work for that, always pushing the difficult elements back, and ignoring my growing complaints. I have fired 3 sets of accountants in 4 years.

Having a dedicated fractional Finance Director has been absolutely the best thing we have implemented to fix this hell. She has fixed so many problems, discovered the “cupboard of shame” tucked away in Xero, and robustly audited and remedied the data upon which our business operates.

Having a dedicated fractional Finance Director has been absolutely the best thing we have implemented to fix this hell.

We are healthy and now have monthly reports and forecasts, which was never possible before. Scaling up requires this level of reporting and functions. We couldn’t attempt it without our fantastic FD.

Making a kick-ass game that sells well may seem like a big challenge too, but we know this area so well, we know what gamers want, we understand the history and the warriors memoirs and how to turn that into compelling, addictive, immersive gameplay with wow-factor, while keeping it respectful to the material – and at the same time expanding the audience by working the transmedia markets.

That is what we are about. Sure it’s a challenge, but to our team, we were made for it, and we want to do nothing else but achieve that.

What one piece of advice would you give to those who want to achieve or sustain high growth in their businesses?

It’s all about the team.

For us that means the team of special forces in Vietnam (or WW2 France, or Somalia, Iraq or Afghanistan – all part of our future plans), and how they worked together to survive the extreme battles their command sent them into.

It also means the team of gamers who get together to co-operatively attempt to solve their cultural and age differences and overcome the challenges set in our games.

And it’s about the core team of enthusiasts who work together, coming from all disciplines – writing narrative, composing music, implementing code, creating 3D art, designing mechanics and gameplay loops, managing finance and contracts, wowing the market, and helping the veteran community to come together and preserve and celebrate their amazing histories and sacrifices.

It’s all about the team.

No man is an island. Even if you make $1 billion. It’s all about the team.

We hope you enjoyed Rob’s insights.

Please visit the Savage Game website if you'd like to know more about Rob and his team.