External development (XD) can be defined as one important pillar of the game production chain. It is the practice in which global game studios and publishers seek other companies around the world to collaborate in the development process, with professionals specializing in art, animation, engineering, visual effects, virtual reality and User Experience (UX), for example.
Brazil has been standing out as one of the emerging and most promising countries of providing services to big publishers. “Talking about XD, we are talking about developing a series of activities, such as art, animation, cinema, audio, engineering, portability, motion capture, quality control, visual effects, UX and UI (user interface), among others. Currently, Brazilian studios are fully prepared to answer these demands. All of them with great competence and commitment”, said Rodrigo Terra, President of Abragames (Brazilian Game Companies Association).
The XDS (XD Summit), an event held in early September 2022 in Vancouver, Canada, has an exclusive focus on external development and promotes the meeting of the main players in the gaming industry. A delegation of 10 Brazilian studios participated at XDS, with support of the Brazil Games Project. The delegation included some studios that worked on external development and others that operated in the hybrid model, providing external services and developing their own games.
Before the event, to show trends and warm up the discussions in Vancouver, XDS released an important report about the games market – XDS Summit 2022 Insights Report on External Development. The study mentioned Brazil as the most promising region for the provision of external development services.
According to the XDS report, 82% of developers/publishers have Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DE&I) goals; the number represents a 5% increase from 2021. Additionally, 53% of Service Providers have similar DE&I objectives and 15% are planning to implement them in the future. The study explains that companies on both sides recognize DE&I as a priority which can expand talents, raise innovation and create more pleasant workplaces.
Brazil currently has about 12,441 people working in game development, 30% of which are women – in 2018, it was 20%. And that’s not all: more than half of the Brazilian studios claim to have a diverse workforce, with black, brown or indigenous people, foreigners, people with disabilities or from the LGBTQIA+ community as employees (Brazil Games Industry Report 2022).
An information released by the XDS 2022 report confirmed that 3D art, concept art and cinematic visual effects still are the main driver of projected growth for developers/publishers year after year. UI/UX dropped a spot from the top 5, with console development taking its place.
Brazil has become an emerging hub for External Development. This session talks about External Development with four of the top Brazilian studios in the space, addressing their journeys in terms of how they have grown, major lessons learned along the way, their experience working with AAA international clients, and the future state of External Development in Brazil.
Interviews with game market professionals captured during BIG Festival 2022 exclusively for BRAZIL GAMES WEEK.
Head of XDS Events at Electronic Arts (EA) and Chair at XDS Advisory Committee
CEO at Kokku
Senior Director, Global Head of Developer Community at Roblox
Senior Asset Artist at Guerrilla Games and Senior Technical Asset Artist at Guerrilla Games
Founder and CEO at Mega Studio
