Ethical and Security Concerns of Outsourcing Game Development

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Nowadays, it is becoming increasingly common for companies to source game development experts that could help in developing their games. However, it is not such an easy task because there are several ethical concerns that make this challenging. With Fanatic Games, though, these challenges will not seem so tough.




But What is Outsourcing in the First Place?

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Simply put, outsourcing is the practice of hiring another company to perform certain services and create goods that were traditionally performed in-house by the employees and stuff. Throughout time, it proved to bring many benefits for companies since outsourcing saves costs and improves profit. It is especially beneficial for IT companies, as most of the IT work can be done remotely without sacrificing efficiency. Moreover, the business practise of outsourcing is done not only by private companies, but also government companies to reduce costs and maximize profit.

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Ethical Concerns

Wage Issues

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Game developers of dozens of countries like India can be hired for much lower prices compared to western countries. Many people think, though, that lower costs mean lower quality, because in such countries, there are factors such as low cost of living, evolving labour laws, or inadequate social security framework that backs it up. But that is not necessarily true, as the requirements are going up and if such companies were doing a bad job, they would not be hired.

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Patriotism

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This one concerns especially the United States of America, as outsourcing the work of middle-class citizens to India or China is becoming frowned upon. Unfortunately, politics sometimes plays a role even in outsourcing game development because such patriotic propaganda result in companies having second thoughts about hiring someone.

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Not Using the Local Talent

One of the key aspects of outsourcing game development is to get the best people possible to do the job. The development, especially in Europe and America, is very expensive, the number of engineers is low and the high social security cost higher. This results in the argument that the local talent is not being used to develop video games, but in reality, the job loss is simply incomparable to the advantages of outsourcing.

Security Concerns

Loss of Control Over Intellectual Property

Outsourcing makes the real producer experience loss of control over intellectual property and the final product itself. As a result, it creates worries about the compromise of codes and data breaches. However, such worries are most likely exaggerated. Fanatic Games, for one, will do whatever is needed to uphold the integrity of client’s intellectual property rights. But not only that, the contract between the companies itself allows no loopholes to discourage duplicity.

Concerns About Cybersecurity

There are dozens of companies whose protection against cybersecurity threats is not in an ideal spot. Their security lacks clarity and their certification if very often outdated or non-existent. Fanatic Games, on the other hand, have security on par with ISO standards and our company undergoes elaborate external audits, evaluation of technologies, and probable risk assessment.

Breach of Trade Secrets

The trade secrets in the gaming industry include such things as game modes, story, or the detailed look of the characters. These things have certain economic value and should be hidden from the public. But that does not always happen, as such trade secrets very frequently leak out from those outsourcing companies. There are countries like China that are accused of trade secret theft by western countries from which the game development is outsourced.

Conclusion

Considering every argument written above, it is clear that companies should take their time in finding a reliable and professional outsourcing team. A team that would guarantee certain standards and a team that would keep to the ethos and quality of game development.