Report: Outsourcing in Gaming Industry Established
According to Amritt Venture, the path of outsourcing in the gaming industry has been checkered this year. While many companies reported more difficulty than they had expected, none of the companies has abandoned outsourcing.
Jul 31, 2006
While many companies reported more difficulty and fewer savings than they had expected, at the same time none of the companies has abandoned outsourcing altogether.
Amritt Venture Report today released its Amritt 2006 Outsourcing Trendlines Study. Among the interesting results of the study, 8% of respondents who have been outsourcing for more than a year reported that they completely dropped their first vendor. A full third said they added a new vendor due to disappointment with quality or schedule
"58% of respondents with outsourcing experience admitted that the process of offshore outsourcing was significantly harder than they had anticipated, while only 18% found it much easier than they expected," said Gunjan Bagla, Principal of the Game Industry Practice at Amritt. "It's reasonable to add new vendors due to capacity issues as 19% of our respondents did, or to reduce risk, as another 15% of respondents reported. But disappointments over quality and schedule indicate systemic issues."
As predicted by last year's Amritt study, Art was the most outsourced function with 43% of the respondents answering affirmatively, with Quality Assurance, programming and porting lagging far behind.
Those who reported disappointment we're asked about terminating use of outsourcing. Only 6% said they considered ending all outsourcing and none had actually terminated their outsourcing contracts. According to Bagla, "Clearly global outsourcing is established as part of the ecosystem in the games business, despite current teething pains."
As far as fiscal benefits 6% reported saving more than they expected, 9% saved about as much as they expected and 44% of respondents saved less than they had expected. 20% respondents reported that cost saving was not their motivation in outsourcing.
317 game-industry professionals from the U.S. participated in the Amritt 2006 Outsourcing Trendlines Study between May and July 2006.
Amritt Venture Report today released its Amritt 2006 Outsourcing Trendlines Study. Among the interesting results of the study, 8% of respondents who have been outsourcing for more than a year reported that they completely dropped their first vendor. A full third said they added a new vendor due to disappointment with quality or schedule
"58% of respondents with outsourcing experience admitted that the process of offshore outsourcing was significantly harder than they had anticipated, while only 18% found it much easier than they expected," said Gunjan Bagla, Principal of the Game Industry Practice at Amritt. "It's reasonable to add new vendors due to capacity issues as 19% of our respondents did, or to reduce risk, as another 15% of respondents reported. But disappointments over quality and schedule indicate systemic issues."
As predicted by last year's Amritt study, Art was the most outsourced function with 43% of the respondents answering affirmatively, with Quality Assurance, programming and porting lagging far behind.
Those who reported disappointment we're asked about terminating use of outsourcing. Only 6% said they considered ending all outsourcing and none had actually terminated their outsourcing contracts. According to Bagla, "Clearly global outsourcing is established as part of the ecosystem in the games business, despite current teething pains."
As far as fiscal benefits 6% reported saving more than they expected, 9% saved about as much as they expected and 44% of respondents saved less than they had expected. 20% respondents reported that cost saving was not their motivation in outsourcing.
317 game-industry professionals from the U.S. participated in the Amritt 2006 Outsourcing Trendlines Study between May and July 2006.