consulting.games

AI consulting for game teams that need more than a prototype.

I help game studios, publishers, and game-tech teams evaluate where AI can become a useful, reliable, testable part of the product or studio workflow and where it will only add cost, risk, or noise.

The work combines 15+ years in mobile and free-to-play games with current hands-on AI building across LLM workflows, agentic systems, automation, data workflows, and AI-assisted development.

For founders, studio heads, product leaders, live-ops teams, publishers, and game-tech companies making real AI decisions.

Book an AI Strategy in Gaming Call Explore Services

  • Founder of VC-backed mobile games studio Legendary Play
  • Raised EUR 5.5M in venture capital
  • Former General Manager Europe at GREE
  • 15+ years across F2P product, live ops, monetization, analytics, UA, BI, and studio leadership
  • Hands-on AI builder: LLMs, agents, automation, AI-assisted development, data workflows

AI is easy to demo. It is harder to make useful inside a game studio.

Game teams are surrounded by AI promises: faster art, cheaper development, smarter NPCs, automated QA, instant BI, personalized marketing, better live ops, and agents that supposedly run entire workflows. Some of this is real. Some is premature. Some is a vendor slide with no operational path.

  • Too many demos, not enough operating models.
  • Tool sprawl creates hidden cost.
  • Games have specific constraints around IP rights, player trust, store policies, live-service stability, and team culture.

Where AI can help game teams if it is attached to the real workflow.

The useful question is not "What can AI do?" It is "Which studio workflow, product loop, decision process, or player experience can AI improve under real constraints?"

Build

AI-assisted prototyping, agentic coding, design documentation, concept exploration with rights discipline, QA, and internal knowledge systems.

Launch

Market research, store-page messaging, UA creative analysis, community/creator/audience research, soft-launch KPI readouts, publisher/investor/press materials.

Operate

Live-ops planning, post-event retrospectives, offers/events/segmentation, BI copilots, economy/progression monitoring, player-support triage, community intelligence.

Govern

AI roadmap, build-vs-buy, vendor checks, privacy/IP/safety, human review, evaluation criteria, kill/scale decisions.

AI consulting for game teams that need practical leverage, not another demo.

AI can support game studios in production, live operations, analytics, marketing, QA, support, internal tooling, and selected player-facing experiences. The hard part is choosing the right use case, integrating it into real workflows, and avoiding tool sprawl, quality problems, rights issues, data exposure, and team resistance.

AI Opportunity Map

Find the highest-value AI opportunities across your studio or business unit and the ones to avoid.

For founders, studio heads, and publishing leads who need a defensible picture of where AI is worth investing in.

Buyer problem: too many possible AI bets, no shared criteria, and no time to evaluate them against real studio constraints.

Format: short, focused engagement combining interviews, workflow review, and a synthesized opportunity register.

  • Discovery sessions with leadership and selected operators
  • Workflow and stack review across production, live ops, marketing, and BI
  • Opportunity inventory scored by impact, feasibility, and risk
  • Working session to align on shortlist and sequencing

Deliverables: ranked AI opportunity register, recommended shortlist and sequencing, risks, dependencies, and decision criteria.

AI Readiness & Workflow Audit

Understand where AI fits your actual production, product, live-ops, and operating workflows, not the idealized version on a slide.

For studio operators and product leaders who want to know what their teams could actually adopt.

Buyer problem: existing workflows, tools, data, and team culture are rarely AI-ready in the way vendor pitches assume.

Format: audit engagement focused on real workflows, real data, real tools, and real team capacity.

  • Map current workflows in production, live ops, analytics, marketing, or support
  • Identify friction, handoffs, and decision bottlenecks
  • Assess data, tooling, governance, and team readiness
  • Highlight high-leverage AI insertion points with honest caveats

Deliverables: workflow maps, readiness assessment, prioritized recommendations, and known risks.

Live-Ops & Product Intelligence Sprint

Use AI to improve decision loops across events, cohorts, offers, support signals, and KPI movement.

For live game teams and product leaders who want better decision loops without buying yet another platform.

Buyer problem: BI dashboards exist, but the loop from signal to decision is slow, noisy, or owned by no one.

Format: time-boxed sprint focused on a specific decision loop.

  • Pick one decision loop and define success criteria
  • Review available data, tools, and current rituals
  • Prototype AI-supported analysis, summarization, or triage
  • Hand off a working method the team can run without me

Deliverables: one improved decision loop, prompts or tooling, and notes on what to expand, drop, or monitor.

Agentic Workflow Prototype Sprint

Build or specify one narrow internal AI workflow with human review and a clear operational handoff.

For teams that want to test one narrow agentic or AI-assisted workflow under real conditions before committing.

Buyer problem: agentic ideas sound powerful on paper and fall apart in real operational settings without scoping and review.

Format: one workflow, one team, one success criterion, one decision at the end.

  • Pick a single workflow and define inputs, outputs, and review gates
  • Build or specify the prototype with appropriate tools
  • Run it against real inputs with human-in-the-loop review
  • Evaluate quality, risk, and operational handoff

Deliverables: working or specified prototype, evaluation notes, and a recommendation to build, buy, pilot, stop, or supervise.

Executive AI Briefing

Align leadership on what AI can usefully do in games now and what to avoid with a senior, opinionated working session.

For leadership groups, boards, and exec teams that need a calibrated view of AI in games without vendor spin.

Buyer problem: most AI briefings are either hype or fear. Neither helps a leadership team make better decisions.

Format: working session for an executive group, customized to the studio or company context.

  • Pre-briefing call to align on context and questions
  • Tailored session covering what is real, what is premature, and what to avoid in games
  • Live Q&A around the group's actual roadmap and constraints
  • Follow-up notes and recommended next steps

Deliverables: tailored briefing session, summary notes, recommended decisions to consider, and optional follow-up working session.

Fractional AI x Product Advisor

Ongoing senior advisory for teams making repeated AI and product decisions across roadmap, vendors, and rollout.

For studios and game-tech companies making repeated AI and product decisions over months, not weeks.

Buyer problem: one-off advice is not enough when AI choices accumulate across roadmap, vendors, hiring, and rollout.

Format: ongoing fractional advisory with a regular cadence, focused on real decisions in flight.

  • Define cadence, scope, and the decisions the engagement should support
  • Recurring working sessions with leadership and selected operators
  • Asynchronous reviews of roadmaps, vendor proposals, and rollout plans
  • Quarterly recalibration

Deliverables: recurring strategy and review sessions, written recommendations, and ongoing context for fewer dead ends and faster calls.

Strategy is not enough. But prototypes without operating judgment are cheap theatre.

The useful middle ground is a narrow, supervised workflow: one team, one process, one success criterion, and enough implementation detail to learn whether the idea survives contact with real inputs, real constraints, and real users.

  • Start with the workflow.
  • Test with real constraints.
  • Leave a decision, not a demo.

Games operator first. AI builder now.

Philipp J. Karstaedt is a games operator, founder, and hands-on AI builder with 15+ years across mobile games, free-to-play product, live operations, monetization, analytics, and studio leadership. He now helps game teams apply AI where it can create real operating leverage and avoid it where it becomes expensive theatre.

Philipp founded and led Legendary Play, a VC-backed mobile games studio, and previously served as General Manager Europe for GREE. Earlier roles at Fyber and Aeria Games put him close to mobile ad monetization, user acquisition, game launches, data-driven product operations, and developer relations.

Today, he works hands-on with AI systems: LLM workflows, agentic development, automation, AI-assisted product and development workflows, local and cloud model use, data workflows, knowledge systems, and supervised agent operations.

Talks and Panels

  • Hit Games Conference Berlin 2024 - Mobile Gaming Evolution: The Future of Hyper & Hybrid Games
  • TLDR Podcast by Unbound - Web3 Games Episode
  • Fireside Chat at White Nights Prague 2017
  • PocketGamer Connect Digital 2020 Panel: Live Ops Strategies That are a Must for Every Game Developer
  • App Strategy Workshops Berlin - Proven App Monetisation Strategies

AI strategy in gaming conversations are coming.

Philipp is developing an AI strategy in gaming interview format focused on how AI is actually changing game development, operations, production, analytics, publishing, and player-facing systems.

Want to know where AI is actually useful in your studio?

Bring a workflow, product problem, vendor proposal, roadmap question, or AI idea. I will help you separate practical leverage from expensive distraction.

Book an AI Strategy in Gaming Call

Email: hello@consulting.games

Location: Berlin, Germany

Questions worth asking.

Do you build AI tools or only advise?

Both, within scope. The work ranges from strategy and audits to specifying or building narrow prototypes: Python/API automation, prompt and process libraries, RAG-style knowledge workflows, and agentic experiments.

Is this only for mobile and free-to-play studios?

Mobile and F2P are home turf, but the work applies to PC, console, cross-platform, publishing, and game-tech teams as well.

Can you help with player-facing AI features?

Yes, at the feasibility, evaluation, and risk-assessment level. Player-facing AI requires careful work around quality, safety, IP, store policies, and live-service stability.

Can you review an AI vendor proposal?

Yes. Independent vendor reviews cover fit, technical claims, lock-in, data and IP exposure, integration cost, and operational reality.

Do you train custom models?

Custom model training is rarely the right first step. Most game-studio AI value comes from workflow design, evaluation, prompt and process libraries, RAG-style knowledge systems, and supervised agentic workflows on top of existing models.

What should we bring to a first call?

A real workflow, product problem, vendor proposal, roadmap question, or AI idea you are seriously considering. Specifics make the call useful.

What is the first step?

Book an AI strategy in gaming call. We use it to understand your context, your real constraints, and the decision you are trying to make.