Outsourcing Game Design

Game art outsource is an easy and inexpensive way to bring your game development vision to life with minimal investment. 

The benefits of outsourced game design

Benefits to the customer

Resources at any level. There are plenty of companies and people on the market who are capable of doing any level of task, so today, the customer doesn’t have the issue of not being able to find the right level of a specialist with the necessary skills and experience to join their company.

The rapid expansion of resources. Large outsourcing companies can provide customers with any number of personnel, and they do not have the problem of quickly hiring employees for projects.

No fixed costs. The bottom line is that if a customer’s project isn’t successful, there’s no need to fire someone or pay people for downtime. He simply stops outsourcing the work. But it’s also worth adding that in many companies and on many projects, there are contracts that stipulate the term of hiring the team, the penalties for changing these terms, and even vacations/sick pay. 

Advantages for the contractor

There are no risks in the results of the project. The contractor has no risk on the end results shown by the project. If it’s successful – the contractor wins. If it’s not successful – the executor still got money and profit in the development process, even if it’s unprofitable from the success of the project.

Gaining diverse experience for other people’s money. By doing different projects, the performer gets a lot of versatile experience. And, most importantly, he does not pay for it! 

Establishing contacts with partners. As a result of a lot of outsourced work with different partners, contacts are established that help conduct business. 

Disadvantages of outsourced game design

Every existing job has both advantages and disadvantages that both the customer and the contractor should be aware of. 

Disadvantages for the customer

Cost. Outsourced development usually costs more than in-house development. However, this all depends on the city in which the customer is located. 

Risks of the outsourcing company. An outsourcing company may trivially close, and not complete the external order. Or, for example, after the first order (or at any other time) may sharply increase the prices of other orders. Or banal simply does not want to work together further, because she was offered more favorable terms of cooperation. These are risks that are possible, and they must be taken into account.

Unfairness and dishonesty. This is a violation of NDA, when a client, for example, orders a prototype of a project and stops the development process when it is ready for some reason. And the company takes it and shows it to other client companies, and possibly even to the client’s direct competitors. But the worst thing that happens is when a partner orders a project, receives it, and then the outsourcing company starts using his code, which he paid for and is not allowed to touch under the contract. Such outsourcers start offering other companies to use this code as a basis for competition, or they just use it for their own benefit.

Disadvantages for the contractor

The limitation of earnings. In contrast to product development, outsourced development has a profit limit that can never be crossed. For example, if the development of a project costs a notional 100 dollars, the contractor will never be paid 1000 dollars. 

You have to work to make a profit. The downside is that your own project can make a profit without constant work. You made it, left a minimum team to support it, and gave it to the marketing and analytics departments. Then the traffic flows, the video game studio converts it into money, the profit goes by itself, and the resources are shifted to the next projects. In terms of outsourced development, the profit stops exactly when the development stops.

The specifics of development. In fact, outsourced development can start and stop at any time. Customers are always individual, so each of them requires its own business approach and its own approach to development.