Economic Impact Analysis of Game Art Outsourcing Industry: Market Trends and Business Models

DOI: https://doi.org/10.62517/jbm.202509521

Author(s)

Qifang Zhang*

Affiliation(s)

School of Animation and Digital Arts, Communication University of China, Beijing, China *Corresponding Author

Abstract

As a major part of the global game industry, the game art outsourcing industry has changed production money, achieved studio scales, and formed new international centers. This paper looks at the economic results of game art outsourcing through the analysis of trends, creating business models and looking at how it affects each person along the way. It is also interesting to see if outsourced work effects the cost of making, how long it takes to make something new, how good or bad the art is, and to other people are getting better because of this. By looking at the case studies of big publishers, independent studios and specialist art outsourcers in and around North America, Europe and Asia alongside the Economic data analysis between 2019 - 2024, we will describe the move away from the contractor to a world-wide production world. What we can see from this is that when you want to produce a game, the process has become so complex that it is getting harder and harder to find people with experience at the old game centers and the talent isn’t there anymore which means the game art outsource market will be $4.2billon used by 2024 and that it will increase year by year by 12 - 15%. We will discuss four main types of business models: project based contracts, additional capacity partnership, co-development and studio integration each will have very different economic trade-offs for cost efficiency, quality control, Ip and flexibility. Analyze from economics perspective on the impact of outsourcing on studios’ profit, employees work distribution and employment, regions’ development, industry structure, and provides guidance on whether to outsource for specific projects, the company’s capabilities, market position etc.

Keywords

Game Art Outsourcing; Economic Impact Analysis; Business Models; Market Trends; Global Production Networks

References

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