Survey: Game-dev outsourcing rising

With the rising cost of game development in this generation, publishers are looking to trim expenses wherever possible. According to a new report from Game Developer Research, one increasingly popular way to do that is by outsourcing work.

Based on anonymous poll results from "almost 200" professional developers, the 2009 Game Development Outsourcing report found that 86 percent of respondents worked for studios that outsourced in 2008. That's up from 76 percent the previous year.

As if the practice weren't ubiquitous enough already, half of the respondents who said that they did not use outsourcing were planning to change that in the future. According to Game Developer Research, the survey results can be attributed to the need for more assets (and more-detailed assets) imposed by modern consoles. (The Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 were most often cited as platforms for which work was outsourced.)

The full 129-page report--which is available for $2,495--covers budgets, choosing where to send such work, and includes a list of studios specifically set up to provide outsourcing services.