4 Reasons Why You Should Hire a Video Game Developer

Without a doubt, COVID-19 ignited a period of growth in several industries. One such industry that flourished in the season of home orders, lockdowns, and social distancing is the gaming industry. As the pandemic crisis unfolded, many found refuge in gaming. As per Statista, there was a sharp increase in time spent on video games during the COVID-19 pandemic globally.

In this blog, we discuss the prominence of the game development industry, reasons to hire video game developers, and the cost involved in developing games using different methods.

Let’s dive in!

The gaming market is projected to reach a value of USD 339.95 billion by 2027 (Source: Mordor Intelligence). With such great numbers, we can say that the world refound its love for video games, in turn increasing the demand for game developers. The video game industry is one of the most stable and consistently growing verticals with massive growth potential in both short as well as long-term future.

The number of active gamers rose from 1.99 million to 2.95 million in the last 6 years, according to a study conducted by Newzao. Unlike some of the other industries, the gaming industry is considerably robust, with high levels of engagement and loyalty from the consumers, thereby making it more resistant to fluctuations in the market. If your product is good, it’s going to sell, and we have seen this with numerous popular game franchises.

Hence, gaming companies must amp up their efforts by hiring excellent video game developers or a game development team to provide productive solutions to their respective game development projects.
Here are the top 4 reasons why you should hire a video game programmer or a game development team to up your "production game."

Before you start seeking your video game developer, it would be helpful to know why exactly you should hire them. It would assist you in making informed decisions. You would onboard someone who has the potential to do the job right and can surprise you with some unexpected but innovative ideas.

There's a lot that goes into translating business requirements into technical specifications. Especially when it comes to video games, the whole industry survives due to the ability to create an experience that users love to engage with. If you launch a low-quality and less-engaging game, your business will likely go down. You should hire a game designer capable of conducting a thorough analysis to understand user, system, and functional requirements, define the information flow, and build wireframes.

A responsible video game developer ensures that the game consists of proper settings and configurations to set how various entities will react and respond. Consider “Call of Duty,” one of the best video game franchises. The game promised to deliver gunfights of epic intensity, and it did. Now imagine if the game was not up to the mark and the features were not acting as they were supposed to. Even a microscopic amount of bug or glitch could ruin the players' whole gaming experience, and the after splash can deteriorate the market value of the upcoming franchise or spin-offs.

Therefore, it's a must for game development companies to look for the best video game programmers for hire who can ensure that the video game is of top quality and highly interactive.

Game developers can assist you in expanding your business in the game development industry as the demands increase. One prominent factor that revolutionized the game development industry and led to a paradigm shift was the increasing penetration of mobile applications and mobile internet users. Here's a look at a few data that showcase how mobile gaming is dominating the industry.

• The total number of mobile gamers worldwide in 2021 was 2.65 billion (Source: Statista),
• Whereas the total number of PC gamers worldwide in 2021 was estimated to be 1.75 billion (Source: Statista). That's nearly half the number of mobile gamers.
• Mobile gaming's share of total gaming revenue worldwide in 2012 was 18% (Source: Statista) and was estimated to be 59% in 2021.

It only makes sense to keep up with the trend when you have such great stats. That's why you should hire developers who have exceptional skills and can contribute to the sustainable growth of your business.

Gaming companies keep pushing the boundaries to launch new iterations of versions or consoles to ensure an optimal user experience. Just imagine the kind of games that we had 40 years ago with the ones we have now. You'd see an enormous technological jump that completely transformed the game development industry.

Let's look at two of the technologies which helped in bringing forth numerous transformations -

• AI: Companies need to make sure game developers harness the true potential of machine learning and artificial intelligence in all parts of game development. After all, this technology is essential in analyzing player behavior.
• VR/AR: The best example to understand VR/AR in gaming is Pokémon GO. These technologies have the potential for a full-blown immersion gaming experience. That's why hire a game developer with remarkable expertise and knowledge of AR and VR.

When you decide to hire video game developers, it is important to have a proper hiring funnel to find and vet the best developers in the market. Recruiting the right talent that suits your vision and company’s culture can often be tricky, and this is why it is important to have a structured mechanism for hiring video game developers that blend well with your development strategy.

Ideally, you must look for game developers that are passionate about the craft and are willing to explore the different creative possibilities. Creativity is an important asset in game development. Hence, you should look for developers who are innovative and can come up with imaginative ideas for optimizing the game development process. These developers should be proficient with the 3D design skills and should be adept in working with game designing tools and software such as Unity, Godot, Unreal Engine, and ZBrush, among others.

The developer should also have core technical proficiency, including programming languages and design frameworks that are prominently used in game development. Some of the technical skills you must look for include Java, C++, HTML5, Python, JavaScript, and Swift, among others.

You should also look for soft skills such as communication skills, problem-solving skills, leadership qualities, and time-management skills. The game developers typically collaborate with different team members and cross-functional teams, therefore, having strong communication skills is an important requirement. The problem-solving aptitude will ensure that the developer is able to overcome any issues or bottlenecks that they might face during the development process.

There are different steps involved in the hiring of video game developers. It is important to have a robust and structured hiring funnel if you want to onboard the best developers in the industry. Here are some of the different phases of hiring video game developers.

• The first stage is the pre-production stage, where you need to document your requirements and lay out your vision for the type of game you want to develop. At this stage, some of the things that you decide are the platform compatibility - which platforms you want your game to be compatible with, such as Windows, Mac, gaming consoles, Android, and iOS, among others, budget, genre, gameplay, and monetization options.
• The budget that you have will have a big influence on the type of game that you produce, including its scale, features, and sophistication. Once you have finalized the pre-production stage, the next step is hiring the best developers that can transform and execute your vision into reality.
• If you are planning a mid or large-scale game development project, you would need to hire expert game developers with good experience in handling different aspects of the project, including conceptualization, design, development, and maintenance. It is recommended that you must hire experienced full-time developers, especially if you have a high-scale project, as you would need continuous technical inputs and support from the developers for rolling out regular updates and providing effective maintenance.
• Once you are past the pre-production stage and have documented your requirements, next, you would need to draft a lucid and eloquent job description for finding the best game developers in the market. It is important to look at the right places and platforms for sourcing suitable game developers. The vetting of candidate applications is a significant part of the hiring process, and you must be very thorough with this process.
• You should always prefer developers with an excellent portfolio over someone with just a great CV. The interview process should be structured properly, and you must evaluate the game developers against technical as well as soft skills. Once you have selected your ideal candidate, you must complete the documentation process, including the offer letter, and proceed with the onboarding process.

Video games have made a significant place for themselves in our everyday lives. Nowadays, you can find games related to every fragment of our society, be it education, sports, psychology, or others. That's why it is a must for companies to hire a game developer and get a hold of their game production.

Are you looking to hire a game developer with a specialized skill set and an understanding of the development process and the industry as a whole?

Try Turing.

Turing is a deep jobs platform that allows companies to unleash the world’s untapped human potential by enabling them to hire pre-vetted remote developers from a planetary talent pool. Companies can hire remote game developers in a matter of 3-5 days with the help of Turing’s Intelligent Talent Cloud.