I’ve connected with countless video game service providers over the years. From full-service organizations with thousands of employees, to boutique providers of niche services, to expert freelancers. Maintaining an up-to-date directory of the video game service industry is a never ending task.

One question I ask every vendor I interview is: what are the biggest lessons you’ve learned about what makes or breaks an effective ExDev partnership?

Their answer not only teaches me quite a bit about that vendor’s working style, but it has also allowed me to identify some common failures I tend to hear about over and over.

Comparing these answers with my own experiences and those of studio heads and ExDev managers, and it's remarkable how consistent they are.  Both sides recognize the learning curve, usually having learned the hard way themselves.

I've identified and addressed the most common ExDev shortcomings and am excited to post new topics regularly over the next few weeks, including:

- Not adjusting your ExDev strategy for each production phase.
- Not knowing your known unknowns.
- Wrong contract terms for the situation.
- Scaling ExDev before investing in supporting ExDev.
- Considering ExDev only for tasks your studio can’t or doesn't want to handle.

And many more…albeit with less enticing titles but nonetheless impactful.

I’d be interested to hear from you if you’d like to share your perspective working in ExDev, or if you are curious to dig deeper.