Video Game Co-Development Outsourcing Benefits

Unsurprisingly, the game development outsourcing market has grown immensely alongside the video game industry. While outsourcing was once seen as risky, it is now widely recognized as a strategic advantage.

Across all areas of outsourcing, game development has seen a major increase in demand. Modern games feature vibrant environments, dense and complex textures, and layered lighting effects that capture realistic dynamic interactions on different surfaces.

As technology continues to evolve, graphics and gameplay systems will need to become even more advanced. Considering the pros and cons, it often proves more effective to hire an outsourcing studio to support your co-development needs. However, it’s essential to ensure that the studio has the right technology, resources, and expertize to be a reliable partner.

There are several types of co-development studios. Some offer only a part of the development services, such as creating art or animation; others offer personalized service such as sound design or programming.

At Magic Media, our co-development service allows you to extend your current team with senior members, ensuring you get experts to help pitch into your final product.

What are the advantages of game co-development?

1. Economic savings
Co-development often allows for a reduction in costs as it enables the employer to use the services of the hired team only when he needed and for specific tasks. This is beneficial as you no longer need to take on the costs of a monthly salary, social insurance, holidays, training, or additional taxes. When outsourcing these teams will provide their own software and hardware, which saves you having to provide these assets. For art alone, the software licenses could land between five and ten thousand US dollars per artist.

2. Focus on other areas of the company
Now, some might think that by working with an outsourcing game studio the project might become harder to handle and less productive. However, the reality is that you will save valuable time which you can then use in other areas of the company. The extra time can be used to develop your business, ultimately increasing your efficiency and profitability. At Magic Media, minimum involvement is required from your side, we will prioritise your vision to make sure we are on the same page. This is great news as your internal team can stay focused on their core tasks.

3. Quality service
In the 2021 insights report by XDS, the essential factor taken into consideration when choosing to work with an outsourcing studio is the quality of services. One of the major advantages of co-development studios is that these companies already have expert teams in all areas of game development, meaning only the highest quality will be delivered.

At Magic Media, we know how many challenges can be involved in the project development process, however by collaborating with our team professionals they can solve any problems that may arise. Co-development also allows publishers to fill in the gaps and use new skills that may not be available in their company.

4. Professional tools and technology
To maintain competitiveness within the industry, it is vital to keep up with the continuous improvements happening within games. This means keeping up with the latest technological trends and tools that allow you to create masterpiece video games. Unsurprisingly, this could lead to huge costs, however, collaborating with game studios gives you access to the best game development software which can help your games to the next level.

Unity and Unreal have supplanted proprietary game engines as the preferred tools for supporting external development by service providers and developers/publishers. Unity-based games, particularly independent games, are more frequent among outsourced firms, whereas Unreal is favoured by huge AAA developers. This is not a rule, but rather a preference that has developed over time.

5. Greater creativity and innovation
Communication between departments produces the best ideas, by hiring a complete team you can combine strengths which will, in turn, create strong partnerships and engaging games. Hiring a full team is always an excellent solution as it will meet the requirements of creativity and innovation.

If you want to develop a video game without tiring the creative muscle of your in-house team, we’re happy to provide the skills and talent you need to create and deliver your dream project.

6. Faster project development
The quality and team’s work capacity is essential; however, the number of team members is also a vital consideration. Of course, fifteen people will build a house faster than two. By hiring many specialists, the task could be completed much quicker and the deadline met with ease!

7. Expansion and scope of the project
Sometimes, developing a game entirely in house can limit your creative vision. Completing all tasks internally can stretch resources and make it difficult to manage scope, no matter how carefully you plan. Without a long-term perspective, it is easy to overlook the full benefits of co-development. If your goal is to create a truly world-class game, having a full team of experienced professionals is essential to bring your ideas to life.

Magic Media offers full-scale co-development, allowing you to extend your existing team with senior experts who can immediately contribute to your project. Whether you need senior programmers, seasoned designers, or expert artists, our team provides instant access to skilled specialists without the need for additional training or onboarding.

With our co-development services, you can be confident that expertize is always available. Our team brings extensive experience in all aspects of game development, a high level of efficiency, and a commitment to excellence. We stay ahead of industry trends and methodologies to ensure your project benefits from the latest best practices. Learn more about our approach in game co-development explained and explore other services like game VFX or game porting.