The biggest developer you've never heard of

[skdr]

http://www.gamasutra.com/features/20060 ... d_01.shtml

VERY interesting interview. Rather interesting business strategy too. What do you guys think?

[JAL]

Outsourcing frightens me, whatever the industry/profession is.

And why not outsource? You get the same job done with less money.

Outsourcing is costing more and more jobs in the "Western" countries,

but at the same time people in not-so-developed countries gain jobs.

Not having a job in eg. India is most likely way worse than

in Finland, where the welfare system etc. offer unemployed

people support.

That "Ninja" company has a good business idea,

and I wouldn't be suprised if companies like that

become more usual in gamedev.

[sensee]

outsourcing scares me, but on the other hand a AAA developer can't outsource all the production. maybe you can outsource the sound departement or even the engine programming (i.e. buying an engine) but you can never outsource the art creation and especially not the game design. maybe it's possible for crappy GBA carton licence games, but never for next-gen AAA titles.

[insta]

As games grow larger, I think we'll see more and more outsourcing of content creation like models/textures/skins. Why would an AAA developer have their staff of ~15 highly skilled modellers/animators working on creating 50 different car models instead of working on more unique content which actually takes some skill to create? That's where outsourcing could come in handy, production of "plain" content which really only takes time, and isn't much of a challenge for a skilled artist.

[FrieChamp]

but you can never outsource the art creation

See insta's post. Outsourcing art from freelance artists or studios in other countries is common among all AAA titles nowadays.

[ReNo]

Art is one of the most commonly outsourced aspects of today's games as far as I'[m aware. Lots of places are able to take concept art and specifications and build you high quality work. Normally the core and unique art assets - main character models, big set pieces, etc... - are made by the core team, but incidental and common stuff such as prop models, car models, etc... are easily shipped to China or Korea, or even India or wherever.

[sensee]

I agree with the simple props, that makes sense. Also using automatic tools like speedtree is ok.

I was more talking about the stuff that takes creativity. I can't imagine that Bungie for example would ever consider to outsource the level design/art of the Halo games to a team in India or something like that. It just wouldn't work.

Outsourcing concept art is unfortunately becoming more common, although I think it can be a big mistake not having modeler and concept artist work together in one room (or at least in the same building). Freelance artist are one solution.

[Hourences]

I dont think we will loose our job because of outsourcing, on the contrary. We still have a lot more know how and experience than those indian or chinese people. Thats still more valuable than other crap + it can get you a directing position.

Lots of companies and publishers are still afraid of outsourcing stuff, they all try to keeptheir stuff in house and thats not very handy. The unreal engine is currently by far the most used engine in the world yet its very hard for me to find some occasional offsite contract jobs which is basically outsourcing. If more companies were to outsource stuff or order content we as community people might get a lot more work and short time jobs. Outsourcing doesnt neccy have to be a bad thing for us or the avaiable jobs.

I would personally never want to work for the company of the interview. You get all kinds of boring jobs and zero satisfaction.

[The Postman]

Outsourcing. You get what you pay for. Most every out-sourced title I've seen has had shoddy artwork, poor coding, and been rife with bugs.

One time I competed with a Chinese outsource firm to create a 200 poly German soldier. Theirs looked like a British bobby while mine even had little gear packs and a nice little gun. Oh, and mine was done faster.

[ReNo]

The problem is that companies in those countries can undercut prices by EU/US companies or individuals. If people here were doing contract work they would expect far more than the equivelant work done in China, India, or Korea. It simply isn't economically viable for people in the EU/US to take on the work for the same pay as those in less developed countries.

For important assets the companies may be willing to pay more to decrease risk (either by keeping it in-house, or by outsourcing to local - in a worldly sense - people), but for less important assets is it worth their money?

[Fletch]

If anything, the video game industry has proven that on an artistic level, there are deep schisms between eastern and western thought. Eastern styling of how characters are shaped and move is different than the west. Inudtrial design is very different as well, so if you look at "Downtown" environments in a lot of Japanese and Chinese games they look nothing like what you'd see in America or Europe. Since the industry is moving towards a very art asset-heavy approach, outsourcing isn't going to be a huge problem with American and European countries because it would just take too damn long to fix files to get them to fit seemlessly. However, it's probably worth nothing that Japanese companies seem to be more willing to outsource to Korea, China, and India.