Steady Course in a Stormy Sea of Video Game Industry: Fuel Your Growth from Strategic Business Relations 

In light of the latest market dynamics, it becomes evident that the video game industry, which had long been soaring to new heights, is now encountering a period of moderation. 

The once unstoppable trajectory of the gaming market, consistently experiencing growth in contrast to other sectors, has been momentarily disrupted by technological leaps like mobile devices, cloud-based solutions, and the unpredictable impact of the pandemic. These elements created a productive environment that attracted significant investments, propelling the industry to an unparalleled level of prominence.

However, the winds have shifted. The go-go phase has run its course, and the game market is transitioning into a more mature stage. Now game industry investors and publishers are scrutinizing the efficacy of their projects and the returns on their capital.

So today it’s time to uncover the ways of growth through enhanced performance and productivity. 

In this interview, we’re going to delve into the paramount significance of nurturing strategic partnerships within the gaming ecosystem with the co-founders of Walla Walla Studio, Iyrii Usov and Yevgen Lopatin. The leaders of the game art production studio bring with them decades of experience in cultivating global partnerships through Miller Heiman Group across all 22 B2B sectors. 

Throughout these years, Iurii and Yevgen have been committed to applying a distinctive methodology to foster robust business relationships. Can these methods bring game industry partnerships to the next level? Let’s get the answers!

Which Level of Business Relationships Is Your Company on?

Iyrii Usov: Everybody knows that each game industry company has its own specific value. Whether these are your talented workers, unique insights, innovative ideas, or your distinctive business growth approaches. All together that is your business potential. The question: is your potential or the potential of your vendors fully harnessed, reaching 100% realization? Or perhaps it’s at 50%? Or could it be only a mere 30% of potential being channeled into your company’s services and products?

Based on the extent to which a company realizes its potential, we can identify the level of business relationship it can offer you.

There are 5 levels of partnerships, which are the same for every business sector including the game industry. To classify these 5 types in Walla Walla Studio we use “the buy-sell stairs” showing the rise from a basic minimum level to the top. 

Let’s make some game art production examples illustrating each step on these stairs. 

Business Relationships – Level 1

If a company is on the 1st level of business partnership (step #1), it just delivers commodities by meeting your specifications. In game art production, it’s a situation when a company delivers some 3D models, for example, in the requested style, according to the task and the concept, meeting the deadlines and for the lowest price at the market. There can be thousands of such vendors. On this level, small studios usually compete with freelancers and with each other. And that is it.

Business Relationships – Level 2

On the 2nd level (step 2 on the stairs) the company not only meets the entry specifications but also succeeds in delivering a truly outstanding service or product for you. Here your partner exceeds your expectations by offering additional value.

For example, if your partner sees that something hasn’t been taken into account in the specification or some zones of the task are not thought out, then with their company’s processes like quality control, and QA, your partner covers these things. 

Business Relationships – Level 3

In addition to exceeding your quality expectations, on this level (step #3 on the stairs) your partner thinks ahead and is also taking care of how the integration of the art to the game is going, asking if they need help to fix problems on this stage too. 

On this level, your partner understands the engine integration features and makes sure that you have considered them. So the partner can offer you additional service and support after they’ve delivered you an extremely-qualitative product.”

Yevgen Lopatin: “But that’s not a top level. Moving further up these “stairs” you get a partner who considers your business issues, ​​going beyond mere art production or co-development tasks.

Business Relationships – Level 4

On this level (step #4 on the stairs) your partner gives you not only a perfect product, service, and support but also performs your business tasks. 

For example, after delivering exceptional game levels, and supporting the implementation of these elements to your game, the company is also interested in how your players have reacted to these levels, which emotions they have felt about them, and whether they like playing with these elements. So, the company tries to share some insights on how to improve the engagement of the players. And on this level, you need to collect and share such data to be ready to discuss it with your partner.

An active partnership with a business partner of the 4th level, focused on enhancing player experience and satisfying their needs, positively impacts your customer retention and growth of your player base as well as the game’s Net Promoter Score (NPS).

Because high product quality is essential for satisfying current players and attracting new ones. Players appreciate it when developers respond to their feedback and make improvements to the game.

Business Relationships – Level 5 

And on the top level which is step #5 on the “stairs,” we can talk about co-developing a new game with a partner studio, including its post-launch support. 

Here your partner studio takes charge of creating the game’s rich storyline, lore, and expansive game world. They create detailed character models, environments, and visual effects that bring the game world to life. You work together to conduct extensive alpha and beta testing. Your partner studio identifies and fixes gameplay-related issues. And then contributes insights about the game’s unique features that resonate with players. 

You also continue to collaborate on delivering regular updates, new quests, items, and balance adjustments to maintain player engagement. Together with your partner studio, you collect player feedback through community forums and social media, implementing suggested improvements and fixes.

Then you collaborate on crafting expansions that introduce new regions, characters, and gameplay features to keep players excited. Together you organize in-game live events, challenges, and competitions that encourage players to interact and compete.

Such a top-level co-development approach allows both studios to leverage their strengths, share creative ideas, and create a more comprehensive and enjoyable gaming experience for players.

These great business options can be activated only if you’ve chosen partners of levels #4 and #5. And this approach is a win-win for both parties: for production companies and for companies who systematically use external partners for production processes.” 

How to Unveil & Benefit from the Hidden Potential of a Partnership?

Yevgen Lopatin: “The method outlined above is actively used in Walla Walla Studio, where we apply it in collaborations with all our partners. We are constantly driving our business relations closer and closer to the top, starting from levels 1-3 and bringing the collaborations to levels 4-5 with many clients who are fundamentally looking for such a relationship.

Such transparent vision of all of your business relations through the method of “the buy/sell stairs” helps you to: 

1. Realize what is the position of your studio/company/publisher in each cooperation; 

2. What are your growth opportunities in business relations;

3. Gives clarity to your potential partners/clients showing which criteria they should meet to negotiate with you (which investments to make to move to the top of “the stairs”).”

What If You Don’t Use the Business Relationship Levels Method?

Iurii Usov: “Communication is the biggest part of each business relationship. When communication wanes, replaced by a transactional mindset, the shared value diminishes, leaving untapped potential on the table, unclaimed by either party.

If your external partner is ready to bring some additional value to your project, it contributes a lot to your game. To think strategically about your client’s game, about its success, about your client’s relationships with the players, about the game’s sales, that is a talent!

To unveil and benefit from the hidden potential of each partnership, and to get 100% out of it, it’s important to be ready to use this methodology in your business routine. 

You know, there are so many talents in the game industry! And these are not only artistic/engineering talents. They also have an exclusive background, business experience, and strategic vision. And this talent pool is waiting to be helpful. Use it! You can simply benefit from the experience your partners are ready to share with you on level 4 and level 5 without engaging costly specialists from the side.

For example, when in Walla Walla Studio we are porting a VR game to another platform for the client, our focus extends beyond exceptional outcomes. We can also make such focus investments as feedback tools: tools to gather feedback during beta testing, which can give insights into issues specific to different platforms, tools that facilitate seamless collaboration within the team and with clients, such as version control systems and project management software, create some analytical tools, etc. Such a perspective resonates with partners at the 4th and 5th levels of collaboration.

Which Level of Business Relations Are Your Partners on?

Why partner on the lowest levels if you can do it on the top level? With the method below, we propose you calculate and clearly see the level of cooperation with the partners and vendors you work with systematically.

Your Partner’s Total (points):

Evaluate your key partners. And the total of points according to the tab will show you the level of your relationships and the stages where they can still grow. If you see that cooperation lacks potential then it’s time to choose a partner of a higher level. 

Iyrii Usov: “Selecting an external partner, you’re faced with a choice: settle for a satisfactory outcome within your project’s scope, or aim higher for exceptional results, unlocking your vendor’s potential to amplify the impact on your project. Your decision and the reasoning behind it significantly shape your company’s future growth trajectory.

”Yevgen Lopatin: “When each payment for external services transforms into a strategic investment, yielding significantly greater value than the expenditure itself… This marks the achievement of the 4th and 5th levels of partnership, which every company deserves to be at.”

Summing up

This insightful interview with Walla Walla Studio’s co-founders, Iyrii Usov and Yevgen Lopatin, shows us that the essence of cultivating strategic relationships in the gaming ecosystem now takes center stage. Iyrii’s and Yevgen’s experience, honed across various sectors, underscores the significance of a distinctive methodology to enhance business partnerships.

By understanding the levels of partnership – ranging from basic delivery to strategic collaboration – a clear roadmap emerges. This model empowers every company to uncover untapped potential, while the steps on the partnership “stairs” illuminate the path to elevated cooperation. From meticulous art production to strategic game integration, the stages mirror a journey that can reshape industry dynamics.

As game studios weigh their choices, the distinction between satisfactory outcomes and exceptional growth lies in how you approach collaborations. Ultimately, embracing strategic partnerships on the highest levels can unlock the industry’s hidden potential, fostering mutual success in the evolving landscape.