Scaling games is both a science and an art

At Metacore, we create world-class entertainment for hundreds of millions for decades to come. That also means that everything we do, both with our internal teams and processes, as well as external partners, must be sustainably scalable, as it is essential for healthy growth.

Whether you're scaling internally or externally, communication is key in sharing expectations, goals and fostering relationships. We all know in this industry that plans have a tendency of changing, but the more you can plan ahead, and communicate those plans, the better.

This blog is based on the insights from our event, Core Talks: The Art and Science of Scaling, where we gathered industry experts to discuss all things scaling, and to share their tips on how to do it sustainably. The panelists were Maria Maunula, Senior Producer at Supercell working with Hay Day, Neha Yoshi, Production Lead for Merge Mansion at Metacore, Zeba Khalil, Senior Producer at Wooga, Mari Wallgen, Development Director at Moonloot Games, José Rodríguez, Producer at Metacore, and Lloyd Craske, Producer at Metacore.

Scaling with external partners during fast-paced growth

During periods of rapid growth or new game development, it’s important to remember that not everything needs to be done in-house. The right time to outsource, however big or small your team or company is, is when you want to focus on what you know well: making games.

You don’t need to be an expert in everything. Successfully outsourcing tasks to external partners can be the key to navigating these growth spurts while preserving your team’s well-being (and your collective sanity).

Lay a clear groundwork for collaboration

Be careful and don’t fret over taking too much time when choosing an external partner; you definitely should be rigorous when selecting externals, such as production companies and creative agencies, as it will make everything easier in the long run when the vetting is done carefully.

Always set clear quality expectations for the deliverables and create concrete tools, like vision boards or roadmaps. These documents serve as reference points throughout the partnership to ensure alignment in your shared goals.

To have a good partner, be a good partner

A great partnership requires effort and care from both sides. Build trust by fostering close-knit relationships from the start. This could mean organizing office days, team events, and face-to-face meetings when possible. Be open to challenges and feedback from your partners; don’t become a bottleneck for the people you’ve hired to help!

Inevitably, there will be times when expectations aren’t met. Missteps and missed deadlines happen, but thorough communication can minimize them. Regular syncs and direct feedback can flag risks early and foster mutual trust. A good rule of thumb is to treat all partners as long-term collaborators, even for short projects: strong relationships built on trust lead to future high-quality partnerships.

Warm recommendations are the only way to go: especially in Finland, everyone in the industry truly knows everyone, and the best people to hire are the people the people you know have already worked with.

Clarity to bridge the gaps

Working with external partners means bridging cultural and operational differences. It can’t always be avoided, but overcommunication helps to make sure these differences are as rare as possible. Overcommunication also means avoiding niche pop culture references, memes, and other things that will fly over people’s heads or make them feel alienated.

At Metacore, for example, we keep everyone in the loop by ensuring that actionable points are clearly outlined after every meeting and also accessible to those who couldn’t attend. True alignment and collaboration can only happen when your partners understand your vision and expectations for them – and what’s at stake with what you’re working on together.

Especially when face-to-face interactions aren’t possible, use other ways to humanize the relationship and build high trust. Share schedules, lunch breaks, and open communication slots to strengthen connections. They’re people, and so are you; the best external partner relationships are those that feel human rather than purely transactional.

Scaling internally: how to keep your (and your team’s) heads above water

Scaling internally comes with its own set of challenges: some overlap with those mentioned above, while others may be highly specific to your company culture. How can you effectively cater to the needs of new hires and existing talent while preserving culture and ways of working?

Clear communication leads to clear relationships

As teams grow, it’s easy for individuals to lose sight of what others are doing. Sometimes, you need to hold mass meetings where everyone clarifies what they’re working on to others, but this quickly becomes counterproductive.

Dividing larger teams into smaller ones with dedicated team leads can help maintain focus and give each team member enough time to concentrate on where their efforts should be spent. These mini-teams shouldn’t naturally turn into silos. For example, at Metacore we have a clear lead who communicates with other teams and their own team members and has the administrative rights over the work everyone does together.

It’s important to keep track of what the most fundamental relationships within teams are: who are the people that should be talking to one another on a frequent basis? Collaboration between these people is vital for the smooth running of things. This could be, for example, producers meeting with individual teams before coming together to address blockers and dependencies – a simple yet impactful practice.

Collecting feedback after bigger meetings involving many stakeholders and central teams is also a great way to map the ongoing relationships between different teams and the challenges they might be facing.

Repeat, repeat, repeat, repeat, and repeat

The majority of the time, people need to hear a message multiple times before it sticks. Repeat important communications frequently and ensure your messaging is clear and free of unnecessary fluff and internal jargon. Proper onboarding and centralized documentation should provide a single source of truth for everyone to refer to: at Metacore, we have put great emphasis on onboarding and internal documentation, and have already noticed it having a great impact. This way, you’ll always have something to back your claims when people have contradicting thoughts and opinions about the direction your team should take.

People meet and talk about their shared work over coffee, on walks, over Slack, in DMs, and sometimes outside of work – because of all of these impromptu meetings your team members are bound to have, it’s important to have a ‘centralized source of truth’ to fall back on when people get confused.

Be predictable with your plans

Train your team’s collective planning muscle. To-do lists done in a similar way across team members are a must to keep everyone on track and understand what is happening and when. Use backward planning and prioritize tasks logically so that everyone can follow. During busy periods like December, aim to complete bulk work in advance to avoid the feeling of the world collapsing around your team right before a holiday break.

Remember to take clear ownership of decisions, rather than shifting responsibility to your team. Ownership is one of Metacore’s core values: if you’re initiating change, your team assumes you understand its potential impact, and they need to trust you on this.

Show that you care

Processes don’t make games, products don’t make themselves – your team makes them. Above all, prioritize your team’s well-being: build personal connections, understand how your team members are feeling and why, and maintain open communication. Make sure people know they can talk to you about difficult things. Utilize the team leads, people partners, and HR support to make sure that you have all the resources you need to be the best team member you can be during the good times and the tough ones.

Feedback culture is a two-way street, too – your team should feel comfortable sharing their feelings and offering constructive criticism when needed to help everyone improve. At Metacore, we hold regular feedback rounds with supervisors and close colleagues. Ensure your team feels at ease with you and confident enough to say no when they need to prioritize! Support their productivity by collaborating to identify and focus on the most important tasks.

Final tip: sometimes, a Slack message will do

You know the feeling after spending sixty-or-so minutes of your precious time in a meeting with a hazy agenda and no clear action points: this really could’ve been an email! Don’t be that person who robs your team of their productive working time. Give people time to focus: if the meeting is about collaboration, it’s important. If it’s about information sharing (one person talking while others might or might not listen), then it can be done over some other channel than as a meeting. Sometimes, a well-crafted Slack message with a clear roadmap, deadline, and call to action is everything your team needs.

The game industry can be serious business, but after all, it’s a very creative one too – we’re in it to build fantasy for our players. We should be having fun while creating these moments for our players, too!