Game studies researchers have struggled to access game studios and developers, partly due to the secretive and closed nature of large studios. To date, relatively little methodological innovation addresses this issue. As a larger overarching project, we look at how to better connect researchers with game developers and others who work in the industry, as well as new methods to learn about their work. For example, this includes examining ways to conduct in-depth contextual analyses of cultural intermediaries, such as co-working space hosts, events organizers, publishers, etc. The kinds of work that cultural intermediaries do can be difficult to access as their actual sites of work are highly mobile, geographically dispersed, and individualized, particularly in ‘indie’ scenes. Another methodological challenge we highlight through our work is the disconnect between how we might think games are made, and the messy realities of what team-based game development actually looks like on the ground. In response, we emphasize studio studies ethnographies as a viable tool for qualitative game studies research.