How does the domestic game outsourcing continue to go down?

In the tiger smell an article about American enterprises began to abandon outsourcing, foster the new trend of the package of articles, quite touched, a brief report on my familiar outsourcing industry in a subdivision area: Game outsourcing.

In my career, a considerable amount of time, with the game project outsourcing, between party A and party B change the role. Around 2005, may be the domestic game outsourcing industry The most brilliant period, now well-known enterprises, such as Zen, Gilt, Vitas and so on, are born in this period, but also including the first company I set up a business.

At that time, Shanghai, the founder of the game outsourcing companies, mostly from Tose (Japan's East Star Software), UBI (France Ubisoft) and Konami (Japan Branch Le Mei) of the senior game http://www.aliyun.com/zixun/aggregation/7155. HTML "> developers, by virtue of their work experience and contacts, take overseas lists, mainly to do art works. The reason why the main work of art, one is a quick job, easy to evaluate, can quickly get projects; second, the customer is afraid of being cottage, generally do not write code to send out. Through a large number of art outsourcing projects, we have trained with world-class level of quality.

With the vigorous rise of the domestic network game market, Shanda, nine cities, giants and other domestic enterprises to rise rapidly, there are a large number of two or three online games companies and investors face the rapid development of the market, have flocked to join the game industry. With 2005 years as a point in time, after this, from the domestic customer's game outsourcing project began to rise, the game outsourcing company finally can use the mother tongue and customer communication. From this point on, we begin to touch on a new project: the whole package.

The so-called whole package, is the customer only to mention the idea, the specific game design, programming, art, testing and other work by the outsourcing company is responsible for. Almost all the owners of the game outsourcing company have the "one day I want to do my own game" ideal. The whole package of games, so that outsourcing companies no longer only face the hard work of art, began to fully responsible for the full game design and development work, and even began to part of the work (such as art) subcontracted to cheaper suppliers. Seems to be a step forward.

However, soon the game outsourcing companies found a problem: Domestic customers are "pick", compared to the more people vomiting blood is that domestic customers are "pull". Although it is a local game enterprise, but the vision is international, however, the price and payment of the drag style is very localized, but also often find some reason to protest, especially some large companies, because their CP resources are quite rich. Do outsource all understand, do not roll, not examples. As a result, some people began to look overseas list, or in the page tour and the rapid development of the hand tour today, transformation to do original projects;

Game outsourcing, if you want to do it, first of all as a client of the employer to build a concept: outsourcing is not to save money. In Martycagan's book Revelation (inspired), it is said: "Outsourcing is not to save costs, but to achieve a reasonable staffing." "I think: outsourcing, should achieve professional ability and resources complement, and should not only to save money, otherwise the employer and the enamelled long-term interests and development are not guaranteed." The reason is very simple: not to earn money, is unable to let party B stand on the position of the thinking. If you do not have this awareness, please ask the employer or Jews, pits themselves can, do not pit others.

Today's game industry, from design to development to marketing, the need for a fast pace of close cooperation in order to quickly respond to users and market feedback and demand, party A and party B must be tied together with the "people." There are also some companies in accordance with this as an excuse for outsourcing companies to a very low price package, and even ask for joint investment, shared risk, is very ignorant, even shameless.

Most of these cooperation, as party A's employer, often has operational capabilities and resources, I call it "operational power", as party B's enamelled, generally have a certain product development capabilities. As mentioned above, outsourcing is the complementary of professional ability and resources, the employer will pay to receive enamelled to buy, should be their own lack or lack of ability. According to the usual outsourcing project contract, Party B is not doing a good job, party a can not pay the subsequent payments. Accordingly, party B has assumed the risk of the project. Revenue sharing is based on the operational power of party A. If because of party A's reason, the game operation is unsuccessful, earns not the money, if does not have the corresponding penalty clause, such "altogether risks" is unfair! To share the proceeds, the party a voluntarily made, is beyond the price of the project itself bonuses, is the additional incentive to party B. To party B to work hard, party A can not blindly consider subtraction, to do more addition.

As a enamelled game outsourcing company, the question to consider is: in the new development situation, is it to continue to spell artificial price, or to spell value? The answer is obvious, and this is particularly important for outsourcing companies in places such as Shanghai, where labor costs are high. Spell value, is to do the division of outsourcing areas, in-depth development of core competencies. Sustainable and stable access to overseas lists is a capability; proficiency in iOS or HTML5 development is an ability to marvel at the original design, is an ability, and so on. People have no I have, people have my excellent, there is a threshold, to be valuable, to earn a lot of money in order to get the approval and respect of the employer.

In the tide of the second generation Games, the center of the host game market from Japan to North America, Japanese enterprises face the most serious crisis in history, has not stopped trying to internationalize the pace, but often hit the wall. Action games Tianzun Japan Capcom The latest in its masterpiece, Devil may Cry, to be developed by the Ninja Germ studio in Cambridge, UK. The latter has developed an exclusive game for Sony Playstation 3 "Hevan Sword" (Tian Jian) and Cross-platform works "Enslaved:odyssey to the West" (Slavery: Odyssey Tour), although the sales of mediocre, but the action of the game of the attainments, It can be said that the European and American Department of the leading studio, above I am afraid only to create "God of War" (Ares) series of Sony Sante Monica Studio. Under the careful guidance of Tianzun Capcom, although experienced outside of the doubt, Ninja Germ finally surrendered a satisfactory answer. "DMC" after the sale, the media and the player's praise, the successful succession of the classic series, and gave the work new style and vitality. The core value of Ninja germ is: 1. Understanding of European and American markets and user tastes; 2. Experience accumulated over a long period of time in action games.

In short, the domestic game outsourcing, to get out of the "low price and low quality" of the vicious circle, and then enamelled to understand and deep digging core competencies, the establishment of competitive barriers, from Tose (east), UBI (Ubisoft), KONAMI (Le Mei) and other companies out of the elite, do not go with troupes price, not easy to survive But know how to identify and give up poor customers. Want to do a good job of the product, if the recognition of the ability to enamelled, to give commensurate with the price, quality is grinding out, is not squeezed out.

The author is the director of the Chinese game industry in Wuyi