There are not many large companies in the gaming industry market that offer the development of gaming platforms offline, that is, through the office, full-time specialized specialists, and real meetings. Also, even if such companies exist, they are located very inconveniently, in other cities or countries. Customers often prefer to apply for game development outsourcing. The following describes all the advantages and disadvantages of this way of interaction between the customer and the developer of gaming applications.
Benefits of outsourcing
Each game development company that offers customer services for the development of popular interactive products via outsourcing has the following undeniable advantages, that is described below in detail.
Thorough observance of development deadlines
Outsourcing companies or individual game developers are not distracted by unnecessary procedures, unlike official large enterprises. They do not need to spend time on the road to work or home, they do not have a limited work schedule. Also, this form of interaction does not require constant meetings or coordination with other team members or management. All work is carried out by a specialist, after which they are agreed upon online already in the form of a finished product, with other participants or with the customer himself. This allows you to release the game strictly on time, and the customer will not lose time and money regarding his business plan.
A wider range of games, applications, design solutions
A very important advantage is that ensures quality and minimizes the risk of developer errors. In large companies, each specialist is responsible for their section of the product, and outsourcing people often perform a whole range of work procedures. Because of this, such engineers, programmers, and graphic designers have more experience, have an extensive portfolio, and are always ready to offer their customers a wider range of services with the highest quality. There is also a great chance to get a truly unique and original intellectual product.
Flexibility in working with a customer and variability in decision-making
Outsourcing work is carried out by a group of individuals who are not tied to a large team, complex accounting, sales managers, and other staff units. This allows you to provide the customer with a flexible approach, and changes in the terms of reference, taking into account new ideas and wishes. When working according to such a scheme, the customer gets the opportunity to implement not only those ideas that were recorded in the business plan but also to make a universal and unique intellectual product that will get ahead of competitors and allow it to gain leadership. Also, the customer gets the opportunity of direct contact with the direct developer of his game, bypassing intermediate managers. This significantly speeds up the deadlines for completing the work, achieving the expected result.
Reducing the risk of changes in the process of creating a software product
If the customer applies to a large company, he, first of all, concludes a formal contract with its management. This means that the team to work on its terms of reference will be recruited without the participation of a customer, based on the preferences of the management and the work schedule of the enterprise. During the development of the game, personnel changes can occur – management can always change the programmer, systems engineer, coder, or graphic designer. All this affects the quality of the finished product, due to which deadlines may be missed or the customer will receive the result that he did not expect. With outsourced work, this is unlikely, since the customer negotiates directly with the direct developers, and it is they who are responsible for performing the work to receive the agreed money.
Reducing material costs
If a customer decides to apply to an officially registered company on the market, he must understand that the final price of his interactive software product will include not only basic but also overhead costs. These expenses include office rent, the purchase of computers, printers, and server equipment, as well as the salaries of support staff – the personnel department, secretary, cleaning lady, and other employees who have nothing to do with the development of the gaming platform. In the case of outsourcing work with specific specialists, these expenses are excluded, and the customer is well aware that private developers receive more money than the salaries of full-time specialists, but at the same time, this is incomparable with the costs under the contract with the company.
Outsourcing Disadvantages
At the same time, in addition to the advantages listed above, working with people on outsourcing to developing a software product also entails some disadvantages, which is why several customers prefer to agree with various official companies. The shortcomings are listed below and justified.
Risk of intellectual property theft
If the customer applies to a large company, its management guarantees him all the rights to the intellectual property that he acquires. In the case of outsourcing to private parties, such an agreement has much less legal force, which often leads to double sales of developments to third-party interested parties or the development of similar replicas of gaming software that undervalues the customer’s idea.
The danger of receiving a product with bad quality
In the case of a customer contacting the developers of a gaming software product for outsourcing, individuals perform work without approved quality standards and other regulations. This may lead to the fact that the resulting game or mobile application will not meet the requirements of the terms of reference, customer wishes, or quality standards. Such problems often lead to a fall in the popularity of an intellectual product, which is no longer in demand among the end user.
Back guarantees from the developer
Most often, the customer works with people on outsourcing without concluding a formal contract, that is, on trust. This means that the result and performance of the product, and the completeness of its interface will depend entirely on the integrity of the individual, the specialist responsible for the order. In any case, the customer cannot get a guarantee that the work will be completed and that the product will completely suit him, and no one can guarantee that the price declared by the developer will not change.
Low degree of data protection
Outsourcing specialists, as a rule, do not have high-tech equipment and software at their disposal, which cannot guarantee full protection against third-party cyber-attacks, as well as the security of development and the intellectual product itself. The program code may work with errors, and the program with user accounts may have a high degree of vulnerability and also contain distributions with dangerous viruses, which affects the rating and popularity of the gaming product supplier.
