As the game market continues to grow, more publishers and developers are turning to external providers for game development. The XDS 2020 report shows that 97% of developers and publishers see an increase in external development demand. There are two main reasons to engage external service providers in game development: the need for more content and skill set ramp-up. Both of these factors have been top priorities for many years.
We invite you to read this article and learn about the key benefits that developers and publishers get from engaging with an external team.
Outsourcing Game Development
The industry is at crossroads as emerging technologies meet established platforms, and global changes are occurring in our everyday lives. While publishers and developers are facing a host of new challenges, they still have to provide high-quality content for gamers all over the world.
Newzoo is the most trusted source of market intelligence and statistics for games. It claims that all game segments experienced an increase in revenue and engagement as a result COVID-19. However, mobile gaming was the most affected. Mobile games will bring in $77.2 billion in revenue by 2020, an increase of 13.3% over the previous year.
Game development outsourcing is a necessity in this vibrant world of gaming.
The advantages of outsourcing your gaming needs to a game development studio UK
Because of the strategic nature of the process, you can’t just hire an external team to develop games. It must be planned and implemented at the highest level of management. Before you go all in on outsourcing, let’s look at the key benefits.
Benefit 1: Find a partner with a similar DNA
Although a mobile game partner might take on the entire responsibility of engineering and delivering the gaming experience for your players, it is important that the process leverages your brand and communicates the original game concept. Some vendors also offer turnkey art production or art direction in addition to game design and development.
Benefit 2: Games Successfully Launched on Time
Failure to keep up with a hectic release schedule can result in burnout, stress, and costly mistakes. An industry standard is the Iterative approach. This allows for a project to be broken down into milestones and phases. External teams can also assess progress and make adjustments as needed. This plan can include phases such as market research, idea generation, engineering, quality assurance, and other aspects. It is important to remember that the plan should allow for enough flexibility to manage risks and deliver the project on schedule.
Any developer will benefit from having a partner who is committed to meeting deadlines.
It is important to establish a good working relationship with your vendor to ensure that you receive the product you want.
Benefit 3: Building more content and features
Mobile publishers and developers may already have a collection of titles, and are seeking a partner who has new ideas. This could be a great way to create more content for your mobile audience without exhausting your creative muscle. Get a pitch from your vendor with an idea for any genre or platform, then choose and keep the IP. The development team will be available to help you develop the game.
Benefit 4: Flexible Skill-set Ramp-up/Ramp-down
It is evident that the list of essential skills for game developers keeps growing and it may be longer than ever. What is the only constant on this list? Expertise and creativity are the most important things. We recommend that you look for teams of specialists, rather than individual specialists, if you are looking for someone to assist you in a particular production area. They have a common creative experience and established work processes. They may also be able provide consulting in niche areas.
Are you unsure about the longevity of the idea or if it is worthwhile? In this instance, hiring an in-house team is probably too risky. You don’t have to worry: depending on your business model, an external vendor will provide a working prototype for you to try out the idea and mechanics.
Benefit 5: Cutting Risks Utilizing External Expertise
The research paper Risk Management in Video Game Development Projects reveals that gamedev managers rely on prototyping and pre-production decision points as well as agile approaches to manage risk. Two of the risks mentioned are unique to videogame development. Failure to match the project’s development strategy was identified as a significant cause of problems in the development process. A new risk, the ‘fun factor’, was also identified as a critical element that threatened the success of the final game release.
External game studios were primarily involved in making games for publishers and other game developers. This allows them to use their cross-genre experience with different tech stacks and development methods, as well game design and economy. This helps to mitigate ‘fun factor risk’ and adhere to the game development plan.
