The entire CODE Executive team, including its Chief Executive, has no influence over, and makes no decisions regarding, the recipients of game funding CODE provides. For avoidance of doubt, legal declarations are signed that reiterate this for every CODE funding round.

Instead, CODE uses a rotating team of completely independent, external assessors drawn from New Zealand, the wider region and internationally as the sole adjudicators of what grant applications it funds, within budgetary constraints set by the Board of Directors of CODE.

All assessors are required to declare Conflicts of Interest and are recused from considering applications with which they may be conflicted, though this is rare. CODE always has an independent Probity Adviser present at assessment panels to ensure that where there is a COI, it is properly managed, and no influence brought to bear on the panellists.

Smaller rounds may have 3-4 assessors, larger ones up to 8 in total and the process generally takes between 4 and 16 weeks depending on the number of applications.

After a review period, initial funding panel assessments are conducted at a live meeting which is recorded and minuted, the minutes being signed off by each assessor. Two panel sessions are typically held for KickStart/StartUp rounds; one for shortlisting, where the independent assessors work through those applications in contention, and a second for final decisions.

Scale Up and Service Start are on-demand grants, but funding panel meetings are run similarly.

CODE does not publish a list of assessors to keep them anonymous and free from external influence and risk of doxxing. They are drawn from senior-level practitioners across many disciplines of game development and are rotated from round to round to change the line-up for each assessment. Each assessor brings with them different experiences and perspectives. Currently, the average number of years’ experience of a CODE assessor is 13.6, and the median 8.42. CODE currently has 16 assessors and is onboarding another 4 (as of mid-2025).

Note: This text has been updated on 6th August 2025; it replaces the previous text dating back to 2022, which referred to processes operated when CODE was a regional organisation for Dunedin.