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GAME OUTSOURCING SUMMIT AARON PULKKA

GAME OUTSOURCING SUMMIT

Putting it All Together - Building the Right Outsourcing Team

Aaron Pulkka | Director of Production | Activision

GAME OUTSOURCING SUMMIT AARON PULKKA

Outsourcing Team Internal Management + External Partner

GAME OUTSOURCING SUMMIT AARON PULKKA

Key Idea #1 Integrate outsourcing team to scale within development

GAME OUTSOURCING SUMMIT AARON PULKKA

Key Idea #2 Handle outsourcing partner selection like hiring employees

GAME OUTSOURCING SUMMIT AARON PULKKA

Fishing

GAME OUTSOURCING SUMMIT AARON PULKKA

Outsourcing and...?

Fishing Restaurants

GAME OUTSOURCING SUMMIT AARON PULKKA

Overview

• Outsourcing Background
• Building Internal Team
• Hiring Partners
• Maturing Teams

GAME OUTSOURCING SUMMIT AARON PULKKA

Background

• c1998: Game art outsourcing for Sony

Metreon project

• c2003: US-based management firm with

Chinese art outsourcing partners

• Clients included Midway, Activision, EA...
• Value Added Bottleneck
• c2006: THQ XDG
• Publisher-based outsourcing management

GAME OUTSOURCING SUMMIT AARON PULKKA

Value Added Bottleneck

GAME OUTSOURCING SUMMIT AARON PULKKA

Development Team Outsourcing Partner Outsourcing Management

Development Team

Avoiding the Bottleneck

GAME OUTSOURCING SUMMIT AARON PULKKA

Outsourcing Partner Outsourcing Management

Vivendi Games Outsourcing

• Distributed Development
• Independent Studios
• Small Central Team
• Outsourcing Director
• Art Director
• Production Assistant
• Focused on business development & info share

GAME OUTSOURCING SUMMIT AARON PULKKA

GAME OUTSOURCING SUMMIT AARON PULKKA

GAME OUTSOURCING SUMMIT AARON PULKKA

Building the Right Internal Team

★ Business Development ★ Project Management ★ Art Direction

Outsourcing Team Roles

GAME OUTSOURCING SUMMIT AARON PULKKA

★ Asset Wrangling ★ Quality Control ★ Technical Support

• Team may already exist!
• Roles can be shared
• Necessary team size depends on:
• Scope
• Level of granularity
• Relationship maturity

How many new hires?

GAME OUTSOURCING SUMMIT AARON PULKKA

• Build within existing internal structure
• Consider workflow & approval chain
• How are assets specified?
• How are assets approved?
• How do assets get into game?
• How would you scale if ramping up

internal staff instead of external?

Outsourcing Integration

GAME OUTSOURCING SUMMIT AARON PULKKA

Scale as if External is Internal

GAME OUTSOURCING SUMMIT AARON PULKKA

A R T T E A M A R T T E A M Lead Lead Art Director E X T E R N A L

Scale as if External is Internal

GAME OUTSOURCING SUMMIT AARON PULKKA

A R T T E A M A R T T E A M Lead Lead Lead Art Director E X T E R N A L

Establish clear communication plan

GAME OUTSOURCING SUMMIT AARON PULKKA

Who can approve assets? Who writes feedback? Who sends feedback? Who are issues escalated to? Who receives assets? Who will answer questions? Who can initiate work?

Establish clear communication plan

GAME OUTSOURCING SUMMIT AARON PULKKA

Outsourcing Manager Art Director Quality Control Review Team Project Manager Art Lead Art Team

Approvals Feedback Deliveries Questions

• Acknowledge every asset drop with

feedback time estimate (~24 hrs)

• Staff appropriately to provide feedback

within estimated time

• Train QC team to provide clear, concise,

grammatically correct feedback

Tight Feedback Loop

GAME OUTSOURCING SUMMIT AARON PULKKA

Experience Matters

GAME OUTSOURCING SUMMIT AARON PULKKA

GAME OUTSOURCING SUMMIT AARON PULKKA

Building the Right Partnerships

GAME OUTSOURCING SUMMIT AARON PULKKA

Hiring the Right Partners

• Skill set
• Quality / Complexity
• Budgetary constraints
• Time constraints
• Scope estimate

Evaluate Needs

GAME OUTSOURCING SUMMIT AARON PULKKA

} Scalability

• Review past partnerships
• Seek referrals
• Scan resources

Search

GAME OUTSOURCING SUMMIT AARON PULKKA

✓Portfolio / History ✓Intro Meeting ✓Vendor Profile ✓Site Visit ✓Independent Audit

Due Diligence

GAME OUTSOURCING SUMMIT AARON PULKKA

➡Resume ➡Phone Interview ➡Application ➡On-site Interview ➡Reference Check

• Legal
• Financial
• Operational
• Capabilities
• Process
• Security

Types of Due Diligence

GAME OUTSOURCING SUMMIT AARON PULKKA

• Expertise
• Size / Scalability
• Reliability
• Communication
• Goals Alignment
• Culture

Operational Spotlight

GAME OUTSOURCING SUMMIT AARON PULKKA

Ranking

GAME OUTSOURCING SUMMIT AARON PULKKA

NAME Rating Staff Size 3D ENV 3D CHAR ... ANIM Cost $/MM

Alpha A 150 X X ... X 3,000 Gamma B 500 X X ... 8,000 Epsilon C 90 X ... 1,000

Competitive Bids

GAME OUTSOURCING SUMMIT AARON PULKKA

• Specs
• Lists
• Reference
• Benchmarks
• Staffing plan
• Delivery schedule
• Cost proposal
• Tests/samples

Tests must be Real / Relevant First paid project is the best test (start with a small pilot project)

Tests?

GAME OUTSOURCING SUMMIT AARON PULKKA

• Sanity Check (wildly off?)
• External Cost <= Internal Estimate?
• Value = Quality * Timeliness / Cost
• Results of Due Diligence?

Evaluating Proposals

GAME OUTSOURCING SUMMIT AARON PULKKA

Accept, Reject, or Negotiate?

GAME OUTSOURCING SUMMIT AARON PULKKA

Quality Time Estimates Rate

Still Can’t Decide?

GAME OUTSOURCING SUMMIT AARON PULKKA

Initiate Parallel Pilots

Start Earlier Secret to Faster Partner Selection?

GAME OUTSOURCING SUMMIT AARON PULKKA

GAME OUTSOURCING SUMMIT AARON PULKKA

Beyond Bidding

GAME OUTSOURCING SUMMIT AARON PULKKA

Retainer Forecasts

12.5 25 37.5 50 Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep

Environment Artists Character Artists

GAME OUTSOURCING SUMMIT AARON PULKKA

Co-Development

Development Team Outsourcing Partner Outsourcing Management Outsourcing Management

GAME OUTSOURCING SUMMIT AARON PULKKA

Co-Development

Development Team Outsourcing Partner Outsourcing Management Outsourcing Management

GAME OUTSOURCING SUMMIT AARON PULKKA

Wrap-up

✓ Team = Internal + External ✓ Integrate scalable management team ✓ Hire partners like employees

Q & A

GAME OUTSOURCING SUMMIT AARON PULKKA