Unlock Free Access to 58 Essential Toolkits Templates and Examples for Your Success
- Liam Wickham
- 18 hours ago
- 5 min read
It's the launch of my Risk Management for Video Game Professionals book in January 2026. I'm feeling excited and proud of the achievement, particularly as I worked through the website area this weekend and completed the free toolkits and resources accompanying nearly all of the chapters.
This is way more than a textbook describing some hypothetical frameworks and methodologies - it really is my attempt to help you navigate uncertainty and I wanted it to be crammed with real life examples and tools. To be honest, it's become a bit of a game production bible in a way, as to talk about how to mitigate risks and deal with issues, you have to cover the entire gamut of game development.
My goal with the book was always to expand on the risk management course (4.8 out of 5 on Udemy) which I've just moved over to my own Thinkific site. I was only making about $3 a signup at Udemy as a trade off for the enormous audience, but I've been after creating more courses and Thinkific is a great platform. I am about to write a new Advanced Risk Management course where I work through actual examples of templates and risk assessments in Miro. A very practical course indeed.
The first course was, by necessity, a far briefer runthrough of risk management framework and techniques than you can accomplish in a book. I went way over the 100K word limit but the publishers were kind enough to back me, as they reckon the content is worth keeping. Here's a rundown of what you can expect to see:
Table of Contents
Preface
Chapter 1 – Overview
Part I - Foundations of Risk in Game Development
Chapter 2 – What Risk Looks Like in Game Development
Chapter 3 – Foundations of Risk Management
Chapter 4 – Risk Landscape: Trends Reshaping the Games Industry
Part II - The Six Stages of Implementing Risk Management
Chapter 5 – Step One: Identify Risks
Chapter 6 – Step Two: Analyse and Assess Risks
Chapter 7 – Step Three: Mitigation Strategies
Chapter 8 – Step Four: Implement and Track Actions
Chapter 9 – Step Five: Monitor and Review Risks
Chapter 10 – Step Six: Communicate and Report Risks
Chapter 11 – Risk Registers in Practice
Chapter 12 – Fostering a Proactive Risk Culture
Chapter 13 – Implementing Crisis Management Strategies
Chapter 14 – Three Levels – Project, Program & Portfolio
Part III - Game Development Risks
Chapter 15 – Technical Risks
Chapter 16 – Design and Art Risks in Game Development
Chapter 17 – Operational Risks
Chapter 18 – Financial, Legal, Regulatory & Compliance Risks
Chapter 19 – Marketing & Audience Risks
Chapter 20 – Strategic Risks
Chapter 21 – Reputational and Public Trust Risks
Chapter 22 – Collaboration & Partnership Risks in Game Development
Chapter 23 – Communication Gaps Risks
Chapter 24 – Staffing Risks
Chapter 25 – Agile, Lean, and Kanban Risk Management
Chapter 26 – Governance Risks and Organisational Debt
Part IV - Major Risks in the Common Stages of Game Development
Chapter 27 – Concept Stage Risks in Game Development
Chapter 28 – Major Risks in the Pre-Production Stage of Game Development
Chapter 29 – Major Risks in the Production Stage of Game Development
Chapter 30 – Alpha Stage Risks in Game Development
Chapter 31 – Major Risks in the Beta Stage of Game Development
Chapter 32 – Major Risks in the Release Stage of Game Development
Chapter 33 – Major Risks in the Post-Release Stage of Game Development
Part V - Special Topics and Emerging Risk Frontiers
Chapter 34 – Live Ops & Content Pipeline Risks
Chapter 35 – Unique Risks in Mobile Game Development
Chapter 36 – The Missing Discipline: Product Management for Risk Reduction
Chapter 37 – Risk Reduction Through User Testing & Embedded QA
Chapter 38 – Player Community & Social Media Risks
Chapter 39 – Security and Data Privacy in Games
Chapter 40 – Risk Realities Across Studio Models
Part VI - Tools & Resources
Chapter 41 – Evidence-Based Tools for Risk Management in Games
Chapter 42 – Premortem Workshop Kit – Risk Management Template
Chapter 43 – Anti-Pattern Risk Deck
Chapter 44 – Prototype Kill-Gate Funnel – Risk Management Template
Chapter 45 – LiveOps Exit Tree – Risk Management Template
Chapter 46 – Technical Debt Tracker – Risk Management Template
Chapter 47 – Wrapping Up the Risk Management Journey
Wondering what the blue chapters are? They are the ones with online toolkits and downloadable resources available to those who purchase the book.
This restricted resource hub provides exclusive access to the practical frameworks, worksheets, and diagnostic tools that accompany Risk Management for Video Game Professionals. Each chapter includes its own dedicated toolkit, allowing you to apply the book’s methods directly to production challenges across the game lifecycle.
Now, while I could restrict this to those who have taken the course or purchased the book, I thought it would be valuable to anyone subscribed here, as you have already supported me by showing interest in what I produce. So you can have it all for free.
All you have to do is subscribe to the Game Production Academy discord channel and write a message in General Discussion telling me you want the link to the restricted resource hub. I will direct message it to you. That's all you need to do. If you would be able to feedback on Discord if you like it, find any problems, make any suggestions etc that would be really helpful for me. Mainly though, I just want to know if this stuff is useful to you.
I've not really had the time to support the Discord community so would actually really appreciate anyone who wants to breathe some life there - I have found it surprisingly difficult to encourage anyone to share actual risks and issues in game development so if you're willing to do so, that would be wonderful. Perhaps the book or the resources will spur on some giving back to that community. If you really want to express your gratitude, post a single risk or issue that you had to deal with so we can start building up some examples for future editions!
Clearly you'll be missing out on the context within each chapter, so I do put an abstract at the top of each section, but I am really hoping you'll want to pre-order the book. Up to you of course.
If you have not yet pre-ordered the book, you can do so here:
If you would like to join the Discord community you can register here:
If you've reached this and you're not yet a member of the newsletter, please please subscribe. Don't grab the freebie and run!
Thanks a lot!
Liam
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