Who got game? The whole world does

As the cost of making a video game approaches that of producing a feature film, more and more US-based game publishers are looking to reduce their production costs.

According to a Miami Herald report, game publishers outsource video-game production from as far as Russia, Ukraine and Philippines. Most of them are based in California, the creative force behind a $10 billion industry in the US market.

But the same anti-outsourcing sentiments that have hounded software engineering and other high-tech industries hasn't hit the gaming industry -yet. Unlike other industries, the trend hasn't extended to higher-value tasks or positions.

Game developers have been willing to farm out some tasks, but they say they don't want to separate the tightly knit teams of creative talent whose input is vital to making a game fun.

It's hard, for instance, for a Russian developer to know what will entertain Americans. While development costs might be lower overseas, some game publishers still fear that product quality would suffer.

The part of a video game that is easiest to outsource is the art, which is what gamers see when they fire up the game on their consoles or computers.

By contrast, it is the programming and design of the interaction and characters in the game that must be performed in-house because it takes a process of trial and error to get it right.

As a result, the offshore companies that are chasing the game business find themselves at the low end of the food chain, taking small art jobs at first and working their way up.

Overseas developers take over low-priority tasks, like translating a game for a local market or animating the demons that fill out the army in a fantasy game. They build up their skills and then bid on more complex jobs.

A veteran programmer earns anywhere from $85,000 to $110,000 a year in salary compared to about $15,000 for a senior artist or programmer in China. As the gaming industry becomes more and more cutthroat, expect more jobs to be outsourced all around the globe.

But there are signs that outsourcing in the gaming world may evolve.

Some Russian gaming companies are already creating their own products from the ground up. And some of these games are creating a buzz in the industry -gamers and developers alike - even before their official release.

Look for gaming to develop into a global industry, with overseas game developers becoming bigger players in the future enough to rival those in California.