adminRocket Game Talent is a new talent agency focused on helping independent game studios, startups, and smaller teams compete for experienced developers. Founded by former PlayStation and Xbox talent leader Fiona Cherback, the boutique agency aims to bring AAA hiring expertise to studios that may not have established recruiting teams or the brand recognition of larger companies.
Image credit: Rocket Game Talent
What Rocket Game Talent offers indie studios
The agency provides talent acquisition services for studios of different sizes, with particular attention to smaller organizations that face challenges such as limited recruiting infrastructure, less visibility among job seekers, or compensation packages that differ from those offered by major publishers.
Its planned services cover several stages of hiring and workforce development:
- Talent operations infrastructure: Support for setting up the processes and resources needed to manage recruitment.
- Full-cycle recruiting: Assistance across the hiring process, from identifying candidates through recruitment activities.
- Employer branding and engagement: Programs intended to help studios communicate their workplace and connect with potential talent.
- Outreach initiatives: University and bootcamp partnerships, diversity recruiting, and representation at industry events.
For a small studio, clearly defining a role and explaining the team’s strengths can make recruitment more focused. A practical first step is to identify the skills a project genuinely needs, then communicate the work, expectations, and opportunities clearly to prospective candidates.
Experience across AAA and independent game development
Cherback said her experience spans both major publishers and smaller studios. “Most game talent specialists specialise in either AAA or indie. I’ve carefully mastered both,” Cherbak said. She added that smaller teams cannot simply copy the hiring approach of a large company, and need to position themselves effectively to attract talent.
At Sony PlayStation Worldwide Studios, Cherback served as talent acquisition lead and hired more than 250 developers at Santa Monica Studio for God of War. She also worked on staffing and shipping Bioshock: Infinite at Irrational Games.
At Xbox Game Studios, she was lead talent program manager, overseeing operations for 14 first-party teams. Those teams worked on franchises including Gears of War, Halo, and Forza.
Her industry involvement also includes co-founding Women in Games International and serving as chair of the IGDA Women in Games SIG.
Why specialist recruitment can matter to smaller teams
Hiring needs can vary significantly between a large publisher and an independent studio. Smaller teams may need to build recruiting processes while also developing a game, so organized role descriptions, consistent candidate communication, and purposeful outreach can help make limited hiring resources go further.
Rocket Game Talent’s approach is designed to address those needs through recruiting support and broader employer engagement. For studios considering outside help, it is useful to first clarify which parts of hiring require support—such as recruitment operations, candidate sourcing, or visibility with potential applicants—and choose services that match those priorities.
Conclusion
Rocket Game Talent brings experience from PlayStation, Xbox, and independent development environments to a service aimed especially at indie studios and startups. Its combination of recruiting, talent operations, and employer engagement is intended to help smaller teams strengthen their hiring efforts without simply adopting the methods of AAA organizations.
