[gameprogrammer] Re: PC game Outsourcing
- From: Bob Pendleton <bob@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: Gameprogrammer Mailing List <gameprogrammer@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 26 Apr 2004 14:33:43 -0500
On Mon, 2004-04-26 at 12:33, Kevin Jenkins wrote:
> Outsourcing is hitting every market in the US, and the PC gaming industry is
> no exception. While job hunting only two years ago, the number of
> programming jobs outside the US for major companies was negligible. On a
> more recent job hunt, roughly 50% of the job openings were in other
> countries, with most US companies not hiring.
I'm afraid that that is the way it is and it is only going to get worse
for a while. My last two jobs moved to India (one to Bangalore and one
to Bombay), so I am experiencing the worst of this.
The simple truth is that this was going to happen eventually and it
won't stop until the average wage of an Indian or Chinese programmer is
roughly the same as a US programmer or US programmers can show that they
are capable of doing things that foreign programmers can't do. And,
while there are cultural differences it is only a mater of time before
any negative cultural differences are over come.
The number tell the whole story. The population
(http://www.wallstreetview.com/population.html) of China and India
combined adds up to 2.3 billion people. The population of the US is 290
million people. The population of the entire EU + the new countries
joining next month is about 450 million. If you take the top 10% of the
people in each country and train them in science, engineering,
programming, and so on you have 230 million techies in China and India
versus 29 million in the US and 45 million in the EU.
China and India have been spending a lot of money over to do just that.
The Indians started after they became independent of the British and the
Chinese started after they recovered from the "cultural revolution". The
result is a huge population of trained and talented individuals. I went
to school with these folks and have worked with them. They are top
notch.
The US has not done that. We have cut funding for schools, cut research,
cut, cut, cut... Right now you can't *pay* anyone to study any field
related to computing...
The result is that we have more lawyers than engineers. On the technical
front we are out numbered and out gunned.
We have screwed our selves royally and now we are paying for it. This
has been building up for a long time. Sun, for example, has
preferentially hired Indians, even for jobs in the US, since the company
was founded. IBM has used Indian and Chinese contractors for as long as
I can remember.
A "Buy American" campaign isn't going to help us any more than those
"look for the union label" advertisements helped manufacturing workers
in the US.
You want technical jobs back in the US you have to create companies that
hire people in the US.
Bob Pendleton
>
> Here are some of the games listed on the front page of EB Games along with
> the developer:
>
> Hitman: Contracts (Eidos - UK)
> Painkiller (Dreamcatcher - Canada)
> Battlefield Vietnam (Digital Illusions - Canada)
> Farcry (Crytek - Germany)
> Splinter Cell Pandora Tommorow (Ubisoft - France)
> Lineage 2 (NCSoft - Korea)
> City of Heroes (Cryptic Studios - US but published by NCSoft)
> Doom 3 (ID software - US)
>
> Why should we care that the majority of our games are developed by other
> countries? First, PC gamers with programming or art talent often like to
> become developers. Now, you usually have to move to another country and
> work for $25K a year or less (and have a four year degree) to get a job.
> Second, it hurts our economy. The world economy supports the lowest common
> denominator. Which ever country least supports worker's rights and
> environmental regulations can produce products the most cheaply. Third, we
> should take pride in products made in the US and support our own country by
> buying US made products while boycotting products made elsewhere.
>
> Publishers may argue that moving game development back to the US would
> increase prices. Yet back when games WERE mostly made in the US the prices
> were the same, and in some cases cheaper than they are now. Lineage 2 and
> FF Online were developed outside the US, i.e. far more cheaply, yet still
> charge monthly fees comparable to those charged by games developed within
> the US. In fact, Lineage 2 charges the highest monthly fee of MMOG to date.
>
> If we want to get jobs back to the US and support our own economy it's up to
> us as the consumers to support games made in the US.
>
>
--
+---------------------------------------+
+ Bob Pendleton: writer and programmer. +
+ email: Bob@xxxxxxxxxxxxx +
+ web: www.GameProgrammer.com +
+---------------------------------------+
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