Feature: 'An Examination of Outsourcing: The Contractor Angle'

Author: by Staff

Despite popular suspicion, LA-based outsourcing project management company Production Road says outsourcing's not out to take jobs from studio professionals. "Not one client has ever told me that their intent is to save money by cutting jobs," says Production Road president Andy Cheren, who describes his company as "a global production company that offers services and development capabilities to clients in all sorts of new media entertainment." The group's first project wasn't even game-related -- they were tasked with modeling and texturing vehicles from the new Speed Racer film. "Developers who outsource are doing it to get more on the screen, to spend money appropriately to make the game the best they can possibly make it, and to take some of the pressure off of their core team's functionality," Cheren says. His comments come as part of an in-depth Gamasutra feature continuing our examination of outsourcing, speaking to three young companies with a relatively new and different take on the growing industry. In Production Road's case, Cheren likens the company's work to "recruiting on steroids," where instead of placing new employees, it moves teams to where they're most needed, and managing the relationship at each stage. You can now read the full feature, which includes details on separate approaches from Production Road, Virtuos Ltd and art outsource group Shadows in Darkness, each of whom is aiming to bring a new perspective to the outsourcing issue.