Unlocking Freelance Game Talent… The Next Frontier!

Summary:

• The practice of external development has reached new heights compared to 10 years ago; companies are now united in unleveling this ecosystem

• The games industry is changing rapidly as new industries leverage game tech and look to build game experiences while consumer expectations for games are changing
• There is a relatively untapped gold mine of almost 700,000 freelance game artists that can support the industries growing needs in this rapidly changing landscape
• Finding the right freelance game artists quickly is fraught with pain points on both sides; this is the next frontier to up-level so we can continue to fuel the industries growth

The Lowdown

During GDC, I was talking to a friend about my new initiative and they reminded me of an article I wrote back in 2016, entitled, “Why Do Game Developers Work with External Partners.” At the time, I was trying to drive change in the games industry lexicon and move people toward using the term ‘external development’ instead of ‘outsourcing,’ and ‘external partners’ instead of ‘vendors.’ Having worked with IT outsourcing companies at Gartner, it was obvious that what we were and are doing in the games industry is so different.??

I felt these new terms better describe how developers work with their partners to create amazing games. The new terms did not come together overnight, though. My team and I spent weeks debating the pros and cons of hundreds of options. Founding the External Development Summit (XDS) - which was an idea that came to me in the early hours one night - was a big part of pushing this change and creating a mechanism for developers and service providers to up-level the overall ecosystem together.?

It is amazing how many job titles changed from ‘Outsourcing Manager’ to ‘External Development Manager’ as a result of these efforts. A quick Linkedin search shows more than 230,000 people now with ‘External Development’ in their title at companies such as EA, Treyarch, Wildlife Studios, Scopely, Bungie, Smilegate, Monolith, PlayStation, Blizzard, Zynga, Netflix, etc. This is surely an overstated number with Linkedin showing unrelated roles in the search results; however, still impressive to see the change. A lot of that has also come as a result of Chris Wren continuing to drive XDS’s growth after I moved to corporate strategy at EA. Kudos to him and the XDS Industry Advisory Committee.? External Development has matured significantly over the last 10 years.

New Forces shaping the games industry…? ?

The need for external talent continues to grow as the industry rapidly evolves.? There are 3 key forces that I currently see shaping the industry and driving changes in the need for game talent:

1. Games are extending beyond traditional play to become new social networks,?
2. There is an influx of non-gaming companies entering the space, and?
3. Games are evolving as platforms / ecosystems?

I am not going to cover these trends in this article as I cover them in-depth during various conference presentations.? Make sure you come and see those presentations live… shameless plug there to ensure it’s not just my Mum in the audience.?

I will however cover what these trends mean for the industry

• More games experiences than ever before - e.g. over 40 million games today on Roblox, over 700,000 mobile games on Google Play and Apple’s App Store, 1.5 billion square miles to create within in Minecraft
• More companies wanting games experiences - e.g. Walmart Roblox experiences, Forever 21 clothing lines in Roblox, Lego and Disney UEFN islands, YouTube Playables, Google Gamesnacks, LinkedIn games, New York Times puzzle games, etc
• More industries leveraging game technology/engines - e.g. game engines are now used for virtual production, VR/AR simulation and architectural renderings, alongside other use cases across automotive, manufacturing, energy, aerospace, retail, tv/film, and more.

Bring on the next frontier…

Freelancers are a relatively untapped gold mine of additional talent that any company wanting to extend its presence in the games industry can leverage.? The number of companies building game divisions and experiences will continue to grow as it has solidified itself as a key entertainment sector to reach younger audiences. According to NewZoo, games are now the #1 entertainment source for Gen Alpha and GenZ!??

A quick look at ArtStation shows more than 690,000 freelance artists across the globe! When I checked this number in October 2023, it was at 644,090. That’s almost 50,000 new artists emerging as freelancers in the past 6 months. This number is probably inflated due to duplicate profiles and AI artists, but it is still huge!? So many artists, so many locations, so little time to find the right ones to bring your amazing game ideas to life.??

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Difficulties navigating this new frontier…

I’ve spent the last couple of months speaking with people across the largest games and entertainment companies in the world, at indie companies, and freelance game artists. Here are just a few of the common issues I’ve heard in these conversations:

• Finding the best freelance talent is tough and time consuming - wading through almost 700,000 profiles to find the artist you need is laborious. Then there is the outreach to verify availability and discuss pricing, which takes weeks. One person told me that they had spent weeks finding the right artist only to have them refuse to share their banking information, so it was back to square one.
• Paperwork is onerous on both sides - artists need to navigate the complex fine print in NDAs and agreements that change from client to client.? Both sides need to constantly share new agreements and share/collect payment information.? This is tough and time consuming on both sides.
• The rise of AI - Companies are being duped by people pretending to be artists with AI-created portfolios and freelance artists are having to compete against the low rates offered by those creating text-prompt based art.
• Client ghosting - Many freelance artists cite a rising number of clients that disappear after submissions are made and they never see a penny for their work as the clients delete their profiles.??

This is the new frontier to which I am turning my sights. External development with service providers is in a far better place than 10 years ago as companies continue to work together to make it a better place.??

Now it's time for us to do the same to up-level this new frontier - freelance game talent - so all companies that want to participate in this amazing industry can access the talent they need to make any game vision a reality. And those that want to work from home in their PJ’s can do so and still work on incredible games.??

Would love to hear from others on what major issues you see in this area and any anecdotes you would like to share. Please share your thoughts in the comments.