Codemasters On Out-Sourcing

Codemasters MD has condemned out-sourcing work to foreign studios.

Speaking at the Edinburgh Interactive Festival, Cousens outlined the hidden costs that are applied when they take work to countries like China.

“Western companies in these areas are seen coming. They walk in and their cost rate is about 30 to 40 per cent of the UK, and then guess what? They discover the dollar and the rates go up.”

Cousens goes on to say that due to “high staff rotation”, quality of the games drop, but salaries go up.
This is all common as far as out-sourcing goes, you end up trying to save money where labour is cheaper, but all too often find that you’re spending money you thought you were saving on translation, travel costs, IP protection and time differences.

Cousens argues that “UK development is worth investing in,” and that “British development is sought after.’
So outsourcing may not seem as financially savvy as predicted.  However, with tax breaks in other countries and developers choosing to move elsewhere, we may not have much of a choice but to out-source.