The video game industry has long been known for unpaid overtime, labour unrest and concerns about generative AI. (Pexels Photo)
By Scott DeJong, Concordia University and Michael Iantorno, Concordia University, The Conversation
In an industry defined by million-dollar budgets, multinational corporations and enormous development teams, commissioning a video game for just five dollars (well, CA$6.60) may seem a bit surreal.
Yet, if you log onto Fiverr — one of the world’s largest gig economy platforms — you can find countless sellers offering game development services at prices well below even the most unambitious indie budget.
While the graphics and mechanics of these games may be limited in scope, they are nonetheless playable — and, as several YouTubers have documented, they can be surprisingly fun.
Gig labour is a growing economic trend in which short-term contracts replace traditional full-time employment — one that has only accelerated throughout the pandemic.
Platforms like Fiverr, Upwork and Freelancer foster the growth of gig work by acting as digital intermediaries between buyers and sellers, facilitating transactions across industries and regions while taking a healthy cut for themselves.
For gig workers, these sites are battlegrounds where increased competition has created a “race to the bottom” where prices — and, by extension, wages — are driven down.
In a recent study, we investigated what game development looks like on Fiverr. We reviewed a number of seller profiles to see what services were available, how much they cost and who was making them. Through this work, we learned that gig economy game development varies greatly from the industry’s expected norms, and that Fiverr’s ostensibly global workforce is actually quite concentrated.
Games, outsourcing and gigs
The video game industry has long been known for unpaid overtime, labour unrest and concerns about generative AI. These issues hit a fever pitch in the wake of massive layoffs in 2024.
While gig labour is not often brought into discussions about issues in the gaming industry, it highlights a tension between the corporate drive for cheap labour and the increasing precarity of game workers.
Of course, it should come as no surprise that video games are now a staple on gig platforms. Researchers have documented the game industry’s forays into diverse socio-economic and geopolitical contexts and tech companies have long used gig labour to lower production costs.
As part of these trends, Fiverr launched a dedicated gaming store in 2019 with the aim of showcasing development services ranging from writing to level design.
Gig platforms like Fiverr mirror many aspects of corporate outsourcing practices, albeit on a smaller scale. Where North American corporations often outsource labour overseas to take advantage of lower labour standards, gig platforms let anyone opt-in to this labour arrangement as a buyer or seller.
The result is a shockingly inexpensive game development ecosystem. In our searches through the platform, we found we could spend $400 on a custom game or pay $5 to have new art swapped into an existing template.
We also noticed that, no matter the service, every seller was pushing for more. Tiered packages and jack-of-all-trades mentalities dominate the platform, with a strong emphasis on upsells and quick turnarounds.
Regional concentration
As we sifted through our findings, we were struck by how similar seller profiles were to one another. Most of Fiverr’s game developers offered comparable services and, despite promoting the lifestyle of an “Anywhere Worker” in their public-facing materials, the vast majority of our sellers were situated in Pakistan.
This concentration of labour is not surprising. Global wage disparities mean that gig work that appears to be low-waged can pay more than typical service jobs in the Global South.
Likely in response to this disparity, Pakistan recently launched a government program focused on teaching digital skills and pushing participants into the freelance economy. Through this program, sellers are trained specifically to work on gig platforms, where they can make money and build portfolios that might lead them to better future job prospects.
Meanwhile, buyers are more than happy to take advantage of prices well below what they might expect in western countries.
A warning for the industry
While you won’t find the next Assassin’s Creed or Balatro on Fiverr, the paltform offers a glimpse into the rapidly evolving games industry. Based on the videos and screenshots we documented, the games created on Fiverr tend to be relatively straightforward, often bearing similarities to titles in the mobile games space.
For most developers on Fiverr, creating the next hit game — often the aspiration of indie developers — isn’t the primary objective. Instead, they focus on delivering affordable, functional products tailored to client needs.
Some of the most successful game developers on Fiverr mentioned having worked with clients ranging from MSI Gaming to Gulf Oil. While we may never know precisely what these corporate relationships are like, they are likely a manifestation of broader efforts to offset production costs.
Just as companies have turned to AI to supposedly create more efficient workforces, gig labour has emerged as another cost-cutting solution, reducing the need for stable labour arrangements. This is, in part, why there is a growing push for freelancer and gig economy training in Canadian universities and colleges.
It may be tempting to dismiss Fiverr’s games as simple gimmicks or knock-offs, but they cannot be separated from the industry at-large. If anything, the platform’s low price points and exhausting production pace should be heeded as a bellwether for declining industry standards: a lack of job security, a focus on speed and cost over creativity, and an outsourcing of game production both through emerging tech and alternate labour markets.
Scott DeJong, PhD Candidate and Research Assistant, Communication Studies, Concordia University and Michael Iantorno, PhD Candidate in Communications, Concordia University
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
