I commented on a story about outsourcing on Gamasutra. Basically, some big companies are starting to wake up to the fact that outsourcing makes sense. And not just for the sake of efficiency - for the sake of effectiveness.
My comment?:
Needless to say I've been hammering this message a long time.
Outsourcing is the rule - not the exception. You would never consider having a doctor on staff in case your employees got sick; or a lawyer for all your legal needs; or a plumber if your building broke down.
The most important thing about outsourcing is that the focus shifts from production to creative - as it should. We have to stop letting production questions get in the way of trying out new creative ideas. The attitude should be we can always "crew up" to make it - no matter how risky the new design seems.
2 comments:
What's your take on dev companies who outsource their employees in between projects? How about the types of outsourcers (like writers) who don't have the same luxury? I posted today with a link to a slew of outsourcing articles, including the Gamasutra one you mentioned, trying to get a handle on the whole union/outsourcing/exploitation issue: http://writerscabal.wordpress.com/2008/10/09/is-game-outsourcing-the-new-hollywood-model/
My take is that the game industry has to overhaul the way it greenlight projects. It is using outsourcing - but mainly just for art. It doesn't outsource core creative... yet.
Why? Because even though it's an entertainment industry (where outsourcing is the de facto standard), it thinks of itself as a software development industry.
Until this core thinking is changed - which requires a bit of a revolution - we're stuck where we are.
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