adminExternal game development can help a studio build a broad portfolio, support its teams with varied projects and fund original games. Vancouver-based Blackbird Interactive has combined client work with in-house development since its founding in 2007 by alumni of Relic Entertainment and EA Canada. Its approach offers a practical look at the creative and business considerations involved in maintaining both sides of a studio.
Blackbird president and chief creative officer Rory McGuire says the studio takes on full work-for-hire projects and co-development, while also creating its own games. That mix has included Minecraft Legends, Homeworld 3, Escape the Backrooms and the Starfield DLC Terran Armada. The studio has also supported projects that have not been publicly discussed, a common feature of confidential co-development agreements.
Image credit: Blackbird Interactive
External game development alongside original projects
Blackbird’s business model has long involved using revenue from client projects to help invest in its own games. McGuire compares the approach to Gearbox Software’s early work on expansions and ports, including the PC version of Halo: Combat Evolved. Advice from other studios helped Blackbird understand how to structure a business that combines service work with original development. Blizzard also began with contract work and ports when it was known as Silicon & Synapse.
For studios considering a similar model, the key is to plan how client work contributes to long-term goals. Work-for-hire can provide projects and income, but it also requires capacity for the client’s priorities and schedule. A studio should assess whether a contract fits its skills, available staff and creative ambitions before committing.
Hardspace: Shipbreaker was published by Focus Entertainment in 2022. Blackbird acquired the full intellectual property rights in 2025. Image credit: Blackbird Interactive
Keeping teams engaged with client work
McGuire says keeping developers motivated takes deliberate effort. A project that feels routine to one person may be exciting to another, depending on their interests and personal connections to the game. Blackbird’s PS5 port of Minecraft, for example, could appeal to a developer who values the technical challenge, while another might enjoy the prospect of working on a game familiar to their children.
That makes individual conversations useful when assigning people to projects. Managers can learn what team members are interested in, explain the work clearly and identify the parts of a project that could be rewarding. McGuire also treats team enthusiasm as one signal of whether a project is a good fit: if no one can find a meaningful reason to take it on, the studio may need to reconsider its value.
Rory McGuire. Image credit: Blackbird Interactive
Alex Delamaire, Blackbird’s director of business and development strategy, says established franchises can provide a change of pace from the uncertainty of developing a new original game. He points to the Warcraft 1 and 2 remasters, which gave developers the chance to study code written 27 or 29 years earlier and learn from it.
Working across genres can also help a team expand its skills. Blackbird’s work is no longer limited to real-time strategy games. The studio has taken on projects such as Escape the Backrooms even though horror is not its primary specialty. Previous experience among individual team members can help establish that a studio is capable of work outside its most familiar genres.
Alex Delamaire. Image credit: Blackbird Interactive
The benefit of variety comes with a planning challenge: a studio must balance projects that match its proven experience with opportunities that stretch its capabilities. Reviewing team skills and relevant past work can help a studio make a credible case to a client without overstating its experience.
The remastered versions of Warcraft 1 and 2 were released in 2024. Image credit: Blizzard Entertainment
Managing client relationships and feedback
External development is a service relationship, McGuire says, so the client’s satisfaction with the work matters. That means responding carefully to feedback and making it clear how notes are being addressed. Client requests also carry commercial consequences: unlike an internal creative decision, a publisher’s needs may affect funding or the future of the contract.
Being responsive does not mean accepting every request without discussion. When a partner asks for more work than the team can reasonably deliver, the studio needs to explain the constraints and agree on priorities. These conversations can be difficult, but a shared understanding of what matters most helps protect the project and the working relationship.
- Clarify who has final approval and how feedback should be consolidated.
- Separate essential changes from lower-priority suggestions.
- Discuss schedule, scope and resource impacts before agreeing to additional work.
- Account for the client’s internal constraints before proposing changes to its plans.
Every partner has a different working style. Some provide detailed direction, while others expect the development team to operate independently. Blackbird has encountered projects where feedback came from around 40 people, making it especially important to resolve conflicting notes and identify decision-makers.
Delamaire adds that an external team may see a potential improvement without knowing the client’s full context. There may be commercial, organizational or production reasons why a change has not been made. A development partner can offer its perspective, but the client retains ownership of its product and strategy.
Blackbird worked on the Terran Armada DLC for Starfield. Image credit: Bethesda Softworks
Why Blackbird plans to keep a mixed portfolio
Blackbird does not expect to abandon client projects in favor of original games alone. Delamaire compares the studio’s outlook to Behaviour Interactive, which developed Dead by Daylight while continuing to work in external development. McGuire says client projects can bring valuable experience and learning; an internally developed game would need to be an exceptional success before the studio considered concentrating all its resources on one property.
A range of partners can also spread financial risk. Cancellations and corporate restructurings can disrupt projects, but McGuire says it is unusual for them to affect multiple partners at the same time. He notes that this did happen in 2023. When a project ends, Blackbird has generally been able to move developers to another project within a couple of months, though maintaining a steady flow of contracts requires ongoing business development.
The size and length of available contracts have also shifted. Projects worth $15-20 million still exist, but McGuire says they are less common than they once were. Blackbird is seeing more work lasting 6-18 months rather than 18-36 months, which can mean spending more time finding and securing the next assignment.
Secret Mode brought in Blackbird to work on Escape the Backrooms. Image credit: Fancy Games/Blackbird Interactive/Secret Mode
Changing production models and global competition
Some game companies are adopting a production approach similar to filmmaking: keeping a small internal creative group and bringing in external developers as a project moves into full production. McGuire says Blackbird is seeing this model more often, but does not consider it the only future for game development. Internal teams continue to make games, while external support can be especially attractive in high-cost locations such as the San Francisco Bay Area and Los Angeles.
Studios in Asia and other emerging markets are also competing for development contracts, often with lower costs than North American studios. McGuire points to China and Brazil; Brazil’s time zone can also make collaboration with North American clients more convenient. He says cost pressures affect bidding, but price is not the only consideration. A client may also value a studio’s genre experience, creative fit, communication and working hours.
Blackbird has won a contract in part because it shared a time zone with the client. McGuire says the studio’s experience making its own games can also be an advantage when a project needs a particular science-fiction style or atmosphere. For standardized assets, studios in many markets may be able to deliver similar work; for work requiring specific creative understanding, a client may prioritize a team with relevant experience.
External partners compete on more than cost: experience, creative fit and practical collaboration can all influence a client’s choice.
Delamaire cites a 2025 CBRE Research report comparing one-year rent and wage costs for a company with 500 employees in the United States and Canada. The report put Vancouver’s costs at $41.7 million, compared with $86.7 million in the San Francisco Bay Area. McGuire says Vancouver and Ontario can therefore compete at lower operating costs than markets such as Seattle, San Francisco and Los Angeles.
Conclusion: what external game development can offer
Blackbird Interactive’s experience shows how external game development can complement original projects rather than replace them. A varied portfolio can expose teams to new genres, provide opportunities to learn and help distribute business risk. To make the model work, studios need to match projects with team interests, communicate clearly with clients, manage scope and maintain a reliable pipeline of work. For Blackbird, the combination of client services and original games remains central to how the studio operates.
