When studios compare outsourcing options, the conversation almost always starts - and too often ends - with hourly or daily rates. A provider quoting half the rate looks half the price. In practice, rate is only one variable in the cost of getting reliable, production-ready work into your game.
Except the maths is wrong. Or rather, it is incomplete.
The hourly rate is the sticker price, not the total cost of ownership. The real cost of outsourcing includes communication overhead, ramp-up time, quality variance, IP risk, timezone friction, management burden, and the cost of getting it wrong. These hidden costs can erase much of the apparent saving from a lower rate - or make a more expensive partner cheaper once delivery risk and internal time are included.
We write this from a particular vantage point. Ocean View Games is a UK-based co-development partner. We have sat on both sides of the outsourcing relationship - as the team being outsourced to, and as developers who have worked alongside outsourced teams on large studio projects. We have seen what works, what does not, and what the actual cost drivers are.
The Visible Costs
