An impact fund for studios led by underrepresented founders across Canada.
We support video game studios with grants, catalytic investments, and community in order to build strong, impactful teams of underrepresented makers who are shaping the future of games.
Studio support – not just project funding.
Weird Ghosts invests in founders who want to build profitable impact-oriented studios with a long-term vision and commitment to equitable worker-centric structures.
Stages We Fund
We believe in creators retaining ownership of their companies and IP. Our investments are structured around shared earnings so that we recoup only after your team is paid.
Concept
Grants for new teams that need to stabilize studio operations and impact strategy. Prepares teams for further investment and product development.
Learn more about Baby Ghosts
Amount: Grants of $20,000
Early
Shared-earnings investments into experienced teams with a new project in any stage of development. Allows key personnel to focus full time on studio development.
Amount: Investment up to $150,000
Growth
Loans for established teams with a product close to completion, lowering barriers to last-mile production financing.
Amount: Varies
Get in touch.
About us.
Weird Ghosts was born out of a collective desire to empower structurally excluded creatives working in games. Our ultimate goal is a funding landscape in Canada that truly supports game studios at all stages so that all can grow and thrive.
Cofounders and general partners Eileen and Jennie met in 2020 to make this dream a reality.
Eileen Mary Holowka is a writer, game dev, and PhD candidate living in Montreal. She has been involved in video game and digital media communities for over 10 years.
Jennie Robinson Faber is a community arts advocate and organizer, software developer and leader in the IDM industry for over 15 years. She co-founded the videogame arts nonprofits DMG Toronto and Gamma Space Collaborative Studio.
The resources for this project are donated by Infinite Ammo Inc.
Land Acknowledgement
Although we refer to ourselves as a Canada-wide fund, we acknowledge that what we now call Canada is built on unceded Indigneous territory. Weird Ghosts operates out of Tiohtià:ke (Montreal) on the unceded territory of the Kanien’kehá:ka Nation and Tkaronto (Toronto) on the unceded territory of many nations, including the Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishnabeg, the Chippewa, the Haudenosaunee and the Wendat peoples.
We know that acknowledging the land is only one part of addressing settler colonialism in Canada. Weird Ghosts is owned by two white settlers who aim to practice uncolonization by prioritizing the support of Indigenous creators, centring social impact within the games industry, and creating less extractive funding models. We hope to take further measures to deconstruct colonialism in both our fund and the games industry as we continue to grow.
Works Consulted: Truth and Reconciliation Reports, Beyond Territorial Acknowledgements by Chelsea Vowel, Decolonization ~ Meaning What Exactly?