About this episode

The episode discusses the rise of fractional talent in game development amidst industry challenges.

As studios contend with layoffs, hiring freezes, longer development cycles, and a growing supply of experienced talent outside traditional roles, fractional work is emerging as a potential middle ground between full-time hiring and conventional consulting. Host Devin Becker is joined by Aaron Bush , co-founder and Managing Partner of Naavik, to discuss why the company expanded from research and advisory into fractional talent , what meaningfully separates fractional leadership from contracting or staff augmentation, and how these engagements work in practice. They examine which roles fit the model, why senior talent dominates the supply pool, how studios retain knowledge after an engagement ends, and whether increased reliance on fractional experts could weaken the industry’s pipeline for developing junior talent. The conversation also considers whether this is a temporary response to the current employment cycle or an early sign of studios becoming smaller permanent teams supported by flexible specialists. Check out Naavik's Fractional Talent Network: https://naavik.co/fractional-talent/ We’d like to thank Dive for making this episode possible! With its fully managed analytics…

People in this episode

Host: Devin Becker

Guest: Aaron Bush

Topics covered

• fractional talent
• game development
• employment trends
• senior talent
• studio dynamics
• consulting

Keywords

• fractional work
• game studios
• hiring freezes
• development cycles
• senior talent
• consulting
• employment cycle

Sponsors

Dive

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Naavik

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