Inside the Company Built by the People Who Made Godot | Nicola Farronato

What we talked about.

In this episode of Sunny Ray's show, host Sunny Ray speaks with Nicola Farronato, co-CEO and co-founder of W4 Games, from Turin, Italy. W4 Games helps Fortune 500 companies and studios adopt Godot, the open source game engine, for serious commercial projects. Farronato recounts lessons from his first company, BSMARC, founded in Dublin in 2011, stressing that timing matters more than genius. He explains how he left a city innovation role to join three co-founders, why trust came before any pitch deck, and how W4 Games aims to be the Red Hat of gaming, with Godot as the Linux of the space. He discusses new funding from Tencent alongside returning investors, growth targets for Godot games, the push into Asia, and clients such as Second Dinner. He closes with advice for studios weighing Godot: begin with a two to three month technical exploration to de-risk the decision.

W4 Games co-founder Nicola Farronato explains how a company aims to become the Red Hat of gaming by bringing Godot to the enterprise.

The questions, and the answers.

What did your first company, started in Dublin in 2011, teach you that you still use today?

The key lesson is timing. A genius with a great idea in the wrong moment will likely fail, while an average person with a normal idea and the right timing has better odds. Before starting, assess whether the timing is right. If you can validate it, that is the green light to go full speed.

How do you know when the timing is right?

Product market fit is the answer. You need enough paying customers ready to help you ramp up, because you need revenue and feedback from your audience. Being too early burns capital and can make you miss the right window. Once you find fit, you start thinking about how the value proposition evolves.

What was the first conversation like with your co-founding team?

It was about trust. We founded the company as four people and I knew only one of them, so half the team were strangers to me. The first conversation was not about the idea, the value proposition or the pitch deck. It was about trust, because a successful company is often a 10 to 20 year journey.

What problem inside Godot's world was nobody else stepping up to solve?

Godot grew bottom-up through its community, but to fit enterprises you must remove a long list of roadblocks that stop top global companies and tech giants from adopting it. The community alone was not enough. A company with the right funding and core team was needed to remove those friction points and build momentum.

What mistake do investors make about open source infrastructure plays, and what is your model?

Very few open source ecosystems make a lot of money, and investors need to see strong returns. Our inspiration was Red Hat. If Godot is the Linux of the gaming space, W4 Games is the Red Hat of gaming. We build commercial open source value for enterprises, starting from a pure MIT licensed product.

What has to be true for Godot to become the biggest game engine on the market?

We need more games. Using Steam as a proxy, Godot ships roughly 2,000 to 3,000 games, and that must at least triple in the next couple of years. We also need higher quality, such as better real-time multiplayer support, and higher revenue per game so developers can succeed commercially.

What does your Asia expansion look like?

Asia is the next big door to open, though we keep growing in North America and Europe. We start from a strong position with Tencent as a partner. We have had interactions with Sony and Nintendo in Japan, customers in Japan and China, and early talks with other strategic players.

What first step would you suggest for a studio considering Godot for a major project?

Talk to us. Before proposing anything, we suggest a technical exploration and assessment to stretch your hypotheses about how your project idea fits the engine's capabilities. It usually converges after two or three months, a pre-engagement period that de-risks the choice and sets steps for the long term.