To Outsource or Not? The Tell-tale Signs that Your Mobile Game Development Process needs a shift
Optimization, automation, and outsourcing are three key factors to consider if you are looking to advance your business objectives, especially in high-end consumer technologies. With businesses all over the world turning to quality conscious and cost-effective ways of streamlining their business processes, outsourcing has become the new normal.
Data from different market research firms certify that the mobile game industry has been witnessing a massive growth spike for the past few years. And it shows no signs of stopping. A report from Market Watch, for instance, predicts the industry will register a CAGR of 14% between 2020-2025.
The demand for games increasing gradually. According to a report by Mobile Marketer, 1.36 billion of the total world population played mobile games in 2019. This is expected to rise by 22.5% by 2024 and hit 1.7 billion players worldwide.
And to match the market’s increased needs and expectations, people will have to rely on outsourced development to support the delivery of more games.
The numbers speak huge, indicating a dire need to shift the paradigms of mobile game development to offshore partners accelerating production and control budget. Here we will discuss WHY it’s a good idea to outsource mobile game development and WHEN!
The Indicators for Outsourcing Your Mobile Game Development
You might argue the fact that self-development is more reliable than any other alternative; where you could directly involve, track, and evaluate the development process. But outsourcing your game development will bring its own benefits. Their experience in making numerous games will help you bring your game to life, exactly how you envision. Likewise, it will also ensure a smooth development process, that you can keep track of, just like how you would an in-house team.
Let’s take a look at some of the warning signs that ring the alarm that it’s time to embrace outsourcing:
1. Strained overhead cost:
This is one of the most critical factors taken into account while considering outsourcing. Systematic revenue distribution is essential in game production.
Mobile game development is by itself a time consuming and exhaustive process that compiles various elements like GDD, design, development, testing, and production. You don’t need to add to it the burden of overhead expenses!
Outsourcing not only helps to keep a tab on your expenses within an estimated budget but also takes the pain of detailed financial mapping off your shoulders.
2. Saturated brainstorming sessions
A few common reasons why your in-house development process seems to lack zeal. Yes, they have done some excellent work in the past; but, with time, the ideas and innovation could get blurry and repetitive. Low productivity can hit any project right on the head. If you feel that your creative teams are nearing that thin line of creative saturation, it’s a heads-up that you need some new brains to push the coach further.
Outsourcing is a perfect solution to the stagnancy that monotony brings in. With offshore teams, every assignment is new and different. They deal with numerous projects on a global basis and that enables them to add fresher perspectives and elements to your game development process. You can be assured that your project is in the hands of a bigger team with greater exposure to international standards and technologies.
3. Dysfunctionality:
The entire process of mobile game development is codependent. There are not just game developers but also game designers, animators, and release and management development teams involved in the entire process. If the departments are not in sync, the product pauses halfway or much before that. The close cooperation of pre-production, production, and post-production departments is crucial to keep things aligned and alive. Imagine the chaos if one department under performs or is devoid of sufficient crew!
Outsourcing the complete project or certain stages of development fills in these gaps of predictable or unpredictable dysfunctionalities within a company structure.
4. Lack of multi-platform expertise:
Cross-platform games are riding the tide of app development across the globe. To get your game development flowchart to go smooth, you need developers who are well acquainted with diverse platforms like IOS and Android. Technical skills that are limited to single platform expertise could slow down the process. But hiring someone with multi-platform versatility and expertise can go hefty on your pockets.
With game development companies, there isn't the worry of searching for and recruiting the ‘perfect’ animator, developer or designer for your project. You get access to a bigger team with flexible skills, the right exposure, and proficiency. All at no extra cost!
5. Sloppy Marketing:
Ask yourself if you can sell your product. If the answer is pure optimism, then you probably or not in a good place! Why do we say so? Because marketing is altogether a different game! You may be brilliant in developing the best mobile games in the world but may stumble when it comes to tapping the right market or knowing the vibes of your potential customers. Selling your products well within the peripherals of successful marketing is a practiced art that very few companies master!
Many of the mobile game development companies, with their immense experience in market research and target audience preferences, happen to know the pulse of the market much more than you do. Many such Firms often willingly participate, counsel, or offer their services for effective market research.
If you can relate to some or all of these red-alerts that are slowing down your game development process, then, it is high time you find the right offshore partner who can salvage your games!
