|
One publisher/developer that seems to be one of the highest-profile proponents of outsourcing is THQ which, in March of 2006, launched its so-called
XDG unit -- which stands for "External Development Group" -- to
better manage its outsourcing efforts, which are much more extreme and focused on reducing cost on a global scale.
At the time, Shiraz Akmal, then VP of operations and product
development, explained that XDG started as "sort of a business development
group that keeps an eye on product development and the requirements of our
games. We do all sorts of due diligence, and we basically save our studios the
time and hassle of determining where the work should go. We make sure that the
outsourcers actually exist, that they have the resources and the quality they
claim to have, and that they are financially stable."
He predicted that THQ would be expanding its outsourcing
efforts from then 20% to maybe 40% or perhaps 50% "in the next few years."
Flash forward almost two and a half years to today... and
outsourcing has become such a mainstay of game production at THQ that the
company is about to announce the opening of a new office in Shanghai, China "from
which THQ will spearhead the expansion of local partnerships to develop and
publish both online and console games," according to Kevin Chu, now
corporate director of XDG.
He will be moving his office to Shanghai to head up
global XDG operations from its base there. "I believe that shows how big a
commitment the company has to how well our process is working," he says.
First out of the gate will be a free-to-play,
micro-transaction game called Company of
Heroes Online, designed specifically for Asia, in
collaboration with THQ's Chinese operating partner, Shanda Interactive
Entertainment, Ltd.
THQ/Shanda Interactive Entertainment's Company of Heroes Online
In fact, THQ has transitioned from outsourcing to what Chu
calls "distributed development," a process in which outsourcers
function as an extension of the developer's internal team rather than merely an
external producer of piecework.
"We're talking about their contributing to
pre-conceptualization, pre-production, prototyping... everything we do here
back in the main studio," Chu explains.
The goal, he says, is to go far beyond traditional
outsourcing that might sustain just 20-30% growth. "If you really want to
get up anywhere higher than that -- perhaps to 50% or even 60% -- you can only
do it with changing the way you think about making games, by achieving a level
of integration with vendors that I think not a lot of developers are willing to
invest the time and training to do."
"But, through distributed development, we
have outsourced up to 40% of the assets and we hope to reach 60% in the
upcoming year, perhaps with a game called Darksiders:
Wrath of War" -- which is an action/adventure RPG scheduled for release
on the Xbox 360 and PS3 this January.
THQ's Vigil Games studio has had artists working with their "partner
vendors" for over a year now, says Chu, and almost
all the concept art for Darksiders
was pre-visualized at their studios overseas.
Showing the extent to which the company believes in a much more global, highly distributed environment, Chu concludes: "XDG has been working very
closely with them, trying to train and improve their staff so that they become
more experienced with the style of game and more proactive as far as
interacting with the THQ team, which is the first stage of a true distributed
development environment."
|
Printer-Friendly Version
Outsourcing is the rule - not the exception. You would never consider having a doctor on staff in case your employees got sick; or a lawyer for all your legal needs; or a plumber if your building broke down.
The most important thing about outsourcing is that the focus shifts from production to creative - as it should. We have to stop letting production questions get in the way of trying out new creative ideas. The attitude should be we can always "crew up" to make it - no matter how risky the new design seems.
That's only after the work methods, processes, tools, expectations, prices, etc. have settled and become standardized. The games industry is still very far from that, and every studio works differently, so outsourcing is possible but rare and problematic.
Then you aren't at the head of the pack, you're living in the stone age. Most (if not all) of the triple A titles released have used outsourcing. This is not an opinion, it is a fact. it makes good business sense and those developers who doubted this are feeling the effects thtough forced layoffs, and in some cases, closure.
We use outsourced art staff. There is no need to have them on board when they are only needed for 30-40% of the development cycle.
That outsourcing will become a very important part of the gaming industry. As with any other industry as it become more and more mature it becomes more practical to outsource certain parts to specialists than to attempt to keep that kind of talent on hand.
But is also important that to make a good game that it is needed to have certain elements through 90% of the development cycle to ensure a good cohesion even if these elements are outsourced. Some of these elements would be a Design Staff, Writers (I believe these to different than Design, I can explain my thoughts on this if someone asks), Testers, and Department leads. These elements are not necessary for every development cycle but all games would benefit from figuring out which staff need to be included.
We're probably assuming different amounts and significance of outsourcing by these games.
I'm wondering, for the people here, whats the biggest concern with sending work over to China, for example language barrier, IP protection, quality etc. My apologies for the selfish question but if we understand better we can improve, better games, happier people, love and understanding, world peace etc :)
There will eventually be a stabilization though. At one point America and other developed nations will have to lower their wages to the point of being competitive with China's. That's where the fun begins. You see, China doesn't follow the WTO's little tiny rules and advice regarding currency exchange rates (FUN!). So while they'll continue to give us a hefty bang for our buck as long as we pay US Dollars to China, the artificially high exchange rate won't translate towards our newly-made, minimum-wage-paid, educated development professionals in the US. So when the remaining artists, programmers, game designers and CEO's in America find themselves doing video games as an expensive hobby with an Indie label attached to it, everyone in China can cheer for the Win-Win. We can't make our clothes, our furniture, or anything else here, what are we supposed to do when we don't even make our ART??? Who's supposed to define our Culture when we've outsourced it and filed for unemployment?
Why hire Americans from a distance anyways? You have to do all the same extra checks and balances to get results from outsourced workers regardless of location. The real point is saving money, and that money will be saved by handing it over to China and eventually India too.
Those wondering, should be aware that outsourcing to affordable development areas allows the western based groups to afford to stay in business. If we did not have our Asian in-house teams we would not be able to compete in as many areas as we do. However, there are more people working for us in the US than we had company wide in 2004.
The reality is that games development is up ten times from where it was in cost back in ps1 days. The prices for those games are not ten times the price...so something has to give. This industry has to be able to stay healthy for it to survive the rough economy and production cost problems it faces. Fortunately outsourcing is saving up to 40 percent off the costs of working with the old model of large dev teams with in-house work on everything. That model led to crunch/non-crunch and is very expensive. Outsourcing is one of the things keeping this industry healthy.
We work with 18 of the top 20 publishers and have completed 185 projects for 155 clients, including the pitch work for Mr. Seropian here that he used for his Stubbs title.
Outsourcing works. Nearly every major AAA title in the industry is being outsourced. I completely agree with the person who pointed this out.
There are only a handful of Outsourcing studios doing great work so compare portfolios and get references before making any decisions.
Ok, so let me get this straight. The economy is rough so hire people in other countries. Wait what???
This sort of greedy short-term thinking makes great sense for money-handlers with no ability to participate or create games directly. Sadly (or not), the local US money-handlers such as these outsource firms won't be around for long. Is anyone paying attention at all? What's the point in having 70% of production moved to China when you can simply move 100% there? Or better yet, just replace 100% of your US production with someone else's 100% Chinese production? If it's cheaper - why not? If loyalty or patriotism or even cultural interest isn't an issue - why not go all out? Why should I call up a San Francisco outsourcing firm when I can call the Chinese one that has cheaper receptionists and cheaper HR people? If saving money and staying in business is your GOAL in making games, get ready to stop making them, because your future is near its end.
As for AAA quality, that's the most bloated and over-used term in this industry. Go to a local Gamestop and pick out all the AAA quality games on the shelves, if you end up with more than 5 in-hand that were made in the last 6 months, you have failed and are now in possession of 4 awful games more than you should.
The only positive spin on outsourcing or the game industry in general is internet-based distribution of independently developed games. This could eventually bypass the useless and ineffective publishers that are currently thwarting the game industry from even recapturing the standards it had attained in the early 90's. As long as publisher money dictates what developers make, they'll continue making shovelware with outsourcing then slapping "AAA" on it as if that makes it all better. How many AAA outsourced MMO's are or were in production in the last 2 years, and how many have been canceled? Lower costs, lower quality, more layoffs. Thanks outsourcing, thanks publishers.
but do movie studios, putting out the equivalent of AAA titles (AAA films?), rely on cheapo workers from chinese studios? Did Spielberg's latest productions get segmented offshore?
There are aspects of the film industry, as long as speak about live action that is, which don't find counterparts in the video game industry, most of it boiling down to the virtuality of the later. Budgets, productions times, localization of physical resources and type of resources, crew mobility, there are differences in all of these.
Outsourcing to separate specialized studios is not the Great Satan. It is a good thing, as long as the communication is optimal and the vision properly conveyed. That said, this also means the core team won't learn as much as they'd do if they had to expand their range of abilities. But sometimes it's just not worth the shot, if it's not systemic enough.
To answer your question, yes the film industry does everything it can to cut costs. Lucas has his group in Singapore being trained on the new Clone Wars project (which is being entirely set up to become their offshoring location in the future). Much of the Hellboy 2 vfx was done in Budapest and not in SF or LA which helps save costs...Sony has their film vfx group in India. Rhythm and Hues has their vfx group in India etc...etc....Both the television industry and film have been working overseas for decades.
Regarding the other comments, check out the news story on gamasutra today where the Sony exec explains that only 3 out of 10 games recoup their costs. The old development model is partially to blame for this and outsourcing will go a long way to help solve that problem.
Our company will never move all of it's work offshore. Our concept art and animation teams cannot be matched in western cultural awareness by any groups overseas. That kind of work, where new universes are being designed for US and world markets takes a very specific background. However, it goes the other way too as our Chinese studio patiently builds a world for the Asian market, which is actually seeing a ton of that content getting outsourced back to the US teams who follow their lead. It goes both ways. We have to put the best people on the tasks no matter where they live. Being smart about where we grow enables us to do things we could not do well if we were not in the locations we are in.
Anyway, this has been an interesting discussion. Hopefully people will look at the quality of work being done and judge groups by that, instead of race. All that we care about is whether the work is excellentt. If it was not, being in Asia would be pointless, regardless of cost savings. The whole point is to increase quality and decrease costs. There are ways of doing this and I think our work speaks for itself.
Best
Jason Manley
First, the film industry does outsourcing not to "cut costs" but because it offers the key players creative control and a reward more in keeping with their contribution. The key creators in the film industry - the directors, writers, stars - realized that if they were the ones who were actually making the films, why were they "owned" by an abstract entity called a studio which got most of the money? Look up the history of United Artists, for example. In other words, outsourcing in the film industry wasn't some top-down command decision made by executives - it was won by the creative people to give them self-determination.
Second, you are confusing outsourcing with offshoring.
Like Grassroots mentioned, you wouldn't hire a doctor on staff to cover the possibility you might need someone when you get sick. All too often, businesses think that outsourcing means you take an entire department and ship it off to another city or country. What isn't taken into account is that outsourcing agency often works in a different way and has a different motivation (money) than your in-house employees (money + the work + the success of the company).
Successful outsourcing will depend on research and on determining where your strengths are and the strengths of the outsourcing agency are. Can an Indian company handle customer service for you? Sure, why not? Can they handle software engineering? Sure but you have to remember a few things that will reduce the cost-savings: time difference (where you lose a day if they misunderstood your instructions, which happens a lot), liason requirements (you still need to dedicate staff to liase with that company to make sure they get everything they need), cost differences (sure they're cheaper but they're also charging by the hour), and cultural differences (for example, Indians and Chinese cultures favor group thinking and downplay individualism often).
Can you outsource in the US? Of course. The cost of living in some cities is substantially lower than it is in others. I live in Los Angeles. House prices are ridiculous compared to those in Oregon or North Carolina but can I find firms there to do work for less money than I could here? Sure. Why not?
Ultimately, the decision to outsource should be addressed like any other major business decision and not seen as a quick fix for a downturn. More often than not, companies that succeed during and after a downturn are those that spent less time cutting costs and more time innovating. China has cheaper labor, but the US has traditionally had better innovation (this is changing though). Often, you can look at process and find ways to improve it (thus increasing efficiency and/or reducing costs).
1- Indians, Chinese or Ukrainians have as much a right to earn a living and make games as Western Europeans and Americans. So on comments like "What's the point in having 70% of production moved to China when you can simply move 100% there? ", I'd reply "why not indeed?" Because it's not that simple. Projects tend to be only 70% (often less) outsourced offshore because in many cases design has to be kept in the West if the West is the market the game is aiming at. If your creative team in SF cannot put together a better design than a Chinese team, then I say you have a problem with your team, not with outsourcing whether it's inshore or offshore.
2 - Many projects wouldn't get greenlit at all if it weren't for offshore outsourcing. It's been a reality in IT and many other industries for years. They simply would not be cost effective, and the whole team would get laid off.
3 - The games industry is miles away from being in the situation where outsourcing creates unemployment. I don't know of many reasonably experienced or talented artists/programmers/producers who, being laid off, would not find a new job within a matter of weeks. The same applies to programmers in the IT industry. I hear voices asking, "what about juniors, young graduates willing to break in the games industry? ". Now that is indeed an issue, but the solution lies in better education and training, not in dissing at outsourcing. In fact I know several young & talented junior artists in Western studios who quickly made it up to lead positions thanks to outsourcing.
When any film director makes a film, technically they are always an outsourcer. Does that mean Oliver Stone was purely driven by the money motive when he made Platoon - a film that was heavily based on his personal experience in Vietnam?; a film he was certain wouldn't make money because of its explicit violence and irreverent approach?
What I can't stand is all these game industry people drawing conclusions about what outsourcing is all about WITHOUT ACTUALLY DOING IT!
You can outsource core design just as you can art production. Why couldn't you? The movie industry does it all the time. All the time.
Go to the movies tonight. Watch, say, The Dark Knight. While you are watching, remind yourself: The director was outsourced. The writer was outsourced. The stars were all outsourced.
However, it is even more than that. Games comprise Game Play, Content, and Technology. Outsourcing should be employed for non-core activities of a business. Game play is a core business activity and shouldn't be outsourced. Content as a business process is already being outsourced. Technology comes next.
One may say that Technology in our industry is somewhat outsourced to middleware providers. However, when did you last talk to a middleware vendor that was willing to adapt their engine to your specific needs? For 99% of them it is "buy the source code and do it yourself". Then your team has to buy it, study it, work thru issues, talk to the support, etc, etc. Sounds like fun? For programmers - yes, but for the stakeholders (execs, investors, etc) -- hardly so. Why not employ a provider that is either already acquainted with the middleware you've chosen, or let them suggest middleware, or even use their own engine/tools?
For your game Technology is secondary to the extent that all it has to do is provide the desired quality according to your budget. And a capable outsourcer can become your technology partner.
Also, gamedev is a young industry when it comes down to the outsourcing service level agreements. Are there many vendors that can commit to an SLA?
@ Bitfold we consult our customers on the best practices -- when, where, why and how to employ outsourcing, and keep our hands on the relationship's pulse. Nurturing the relationship, solving customers' business needs, providing our hand where it is needed, suggesting things from our cumulative experience -- that's where the power of outsourcing is and that's why it is a partnership and more than work-for-hire.