You’re passionate about the work. That’s part of the problem.
Burnout Coaching for Game Industry Leaders
If you’re exhausted, overwhelmed and wondering how long you can keep leading your team through yet another deadline, launch or period of crunch, I can help.
Hi, I’m Cat. I’ve burned out three times while working in the games industry, including while building and shipping games to millions of players. Each time I didn’t realise how bad it was until I hit crisis point.
I’ve built my coaching practice so that people in games don’t have to burn out the same way I did.
Does this sound familiar?
You’re constantly bouncing from one deadline to the next and the pressure never lets up.
You’re holding the team together while worrying about your own job.
You feel guilty complaining about a job you’ve always dreamed of doing.
Passion has turned into overwork.
You’re the one absorbing layoffs, delays, publisher pressure and worries of studio closures.
You can’t remember when you last played a game for fun.
How I help
Whether it’s a launch, a milestone or a big period of uncertainty, we look at what’s draining you and build habits and boundaries to survive the game industry long term. Sessions are online and flexible around your schedule.
My Story
I joined the game industry in 2008 as a junior developer at Mind Candy - the makers of Moshi Monsters. We grew from a small beta to a global brand with over 100 million players worldwide. I later worked in Developer Relations at Unity helping studios from indies to AAA get their games over the finish line. Then I ran my own game development company for a long time.
Eventually I returned to full time employment and in 2023 I co-founded my own games startup, built and led a remote team of 12 and looking after both production and tech (as CTO and CPO).
The game industry pulls you in. Many of us grow up loving games and feel so lucky to have jobs where we make them every day. But that passion adds to the pressure and in recent years the instability and redundancies have made it a difficult industry to work in.
My first burnout left me signed off for about six-months. The second one came while working on amazing games using AR, VR and cutting edge tech for global brands. The third came while I was building my games startup.
In 2025, I took all I’ve learned about burnout and founded a new company to help the people behind companies and support them with their own burnouts.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Yes. Sessions are remote and flexible, and the 1-hour calls are small enough to fit in a busy calendar.
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Yes. I worked in the game industry for 18 years and am absolutely passionate about games. I understand and have worked with all studio sizes from indies to AAA.
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No. I’m a coach, not a therapist or doctor. Read more on the coaching page.
“Meeting with Cat was incredibly helpful, grounding and enjoyable. As a solo developer preparing for gamescom, I have had a hundred questions on my mind going into our session. We talked about project & demo scope, marketing, pricing, business strategy, game design, naming, project planning, gamescom preperations as well as making space for my neurodivergent ways within all of it. With her huge resourcefulness, Cat was able to help me ground my business strategy in the realities of this industry, strengthen my courage to put myself out there and put a value on what I create and maybe most importantly: to empathize with my context so that her advice was truly helping me to create both a game and a business that integrate my needs as well. I came out of the session with much more clarity, confidence and calm and I am glad to know I can talk with her when I need to talk big (or small) picture with someone who “gets it”. If there are game developers in my network who need advice with any of what I have been talking about, I recommend to reach out to her and book a session.”
— Anneke Eberlei, Game Industry Founder, Germany