CO-DEV WITHOUT THE CULTURE CLASH
Chris Rowe, Business Development Director at Innovecs Games, explains how to scale AAA with partners that feel in-house
A
AA development used to have rough predictability. You staffed up, you shipped, you staffed
down, and you kept rolling. It wasn’t always stable, but teams could stay together long enough to build momentum. That’s harder to keep now. Large teams
burn cash fast and the margin for error is thin. In the 2026 State of the Game Industry research, 28% of respondents said they were laid off in the past two years, rising to 33% in the US, and two- thirds of AAA respondents said their companies had layoffs. When one massive bet wobbles, the correction is brutal: cancellations, delays, closures, layoffs. What worries me more is what gets lost in the churn. Teams get scattered, people leave the industry, and you lose the shared history that makes teams good. Great games come from people who’ve shipped together and know they’ll get it done. My answer is a phase-based approach:
build a small, excellent core, then scale the build when the blueprint is real. Build the smallest core team that still
as the product grows. Outside of that foundation, design, art, and engineering can all be supported externally if the studio is set up to succeed with external development. That’s also where co-development and
outsourcing differ. Co-development is when a partner owns a major piece of the product and runs with it. Outsourcing and resource augmentation are targeted support to fill gaps, remove bottlenecks, or solve a defined problem for a defined period. Most studios use a mix. The real test is predictability. Clients
covers the key disciplines: tech direction, art direction, gameplay and design leadership. Give that group a real runway, often 6 to 12 months, to define what the game is, prove how it plays, and lock a blueprint you can staff against. Once the foundation is solid, scaling gets simpler. You look at next milestone and ask what you actually need to build it. Instead of defaulting to full-time hires, bring people in on a contract basis first. If it clicks, then you consider making it permanent. People also want a clean split between what stays in house and
what can be supported externally. I don’t think the line is a task list. The real line is leadership and coherence. Keep the core leadership group internal, plus a technical anchor so the pieces fit together
48 | MCV/DEVELOP May/June 2026
“Clients don’t want external support to feel external”
don’t want external support to feel external. They want it to feel like an extension of their team: shared tools, clear cadence, and expectations that match how the studio works. Sometimes that means strong time zone overlap. Sometimes it means a follow-the- sun rhythm. Either can work if it’s intentional, and the partner is willing to embed. If I’m talking to a decision-maker
considering a partnership right now and they want fewer surprises this year, I’d start with three rules: hire with intention, keep the core small and let it
earn trust, and think external early, not only when things go wrong. Here is the hidden win that doesn’t get enough attention. External
capacity can protect your best creators from turning into full-time managers. When a trusted partner, like Innovecs Games, takes on an initiative or absorbs a chunk of workload, it gives your internal leaders room to breathe and focus on direction, quality, and decisions. And I will say this very plainly. If you protect that core group and
let them stay creative, the game will be better for it. Ultimately, that is what we are all trying to do together. We want to make the best game possible.
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