How Much Should You Really Pay for Game Art Outsourcing in 2025?

It is not only the story that makes a mobile game appealing. The quality of artwork also matters a lot. From portraying stylized and expressive characters to immersive environments and realistic objects, it is the artwork that makes your game very polished in look and feel for users of all ages.

When you look at games like God of War Ragnarok, Genshin Impact, The Legend of Zelda, and so on, the art has influenced players to engage with the storyline, characters, and other elements. Hence, the importance of art, whether in 2D or 3D game development, is gaining prominence over time.    

Right now, the mobile game industry is generating a huge revenue of over $126.06 billion. Hence, to stay ahead of the competition, you also need to introduce superior quality of art and design. For that, you should choose the option of game art outsourcing. It will allow you to obtain unparalleled art and design services within a reasonable budget to transform your imagination into visually appealing games.

Now! When you are seeking to outsource your game art requirements, it is important to have a fair budget idea in advance. In this blog, we have covered:

Essential Factors to Meet the Cost of Outsourcing Game Art

Outsourcing game art often comes with numerous advantages like:

• Unparalleled artwork in 2D and 3D game development.
• Accessing experienced designers and artists from a huge talent pool.
• Incorporating new concepts and ideas in game art projects.
• Deployment of leading-edge art and animation tools.
• Reducing your in-house team expansion expenses.

However, to efficiently meet your game art outsourcing budget, you have to identify certain key factors like:

1. Game Art Type

This is one of the crucial factors you should consider at the beginning. There are two types of game art, 2D and 3D. 

2D art usually involves hand-drawn sketches of characters, environments, etc. that are brought to life with tools like Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator. Here, your budget is determined by the total number of characters, assets, props, and so on. 

However, 3D art comes with numerous steps like modeling, sculpting, reptology, UV Mapping,  and much more. So, in this form of game art, your budget often goes up with the total number of characters, levels, and so on. 

2. Style and Complexity

It is not only the art type that will impact your project budget. Your preferred design style and complexity shall also influence your project cost further. In 2D game development, for instance, your budget amount will vary depending on art styles like:

• Doodle Art
• Flat Art
• Pixel Art
• Monochromatic Art
• Cel Shading Art
• Cutout Art
• Vector Art
• Pixel Art

Similarly, when you are seeking 3D game art services, your budget will be calculated depending on your desired art style, like:

• Hand-Painted
• Low Poly Art
• Fantasy Realism
• Realism

3. Project Size

It also impacts your game art project cost over time. For example, it often takes a lot of time and effort to craft high-quality 3D artwork in an AAA-sized project unlike that of an indie game development project.

Moreover, when your 2D or 3D game project scope is fixed, you just have to pay a specific amount without incurring hidden expenses. But you have to pay more for art outsourcing services when the scope of your game development project evolves frequently.    

4. Timeline

Your game art outsourcing budget also varies depending on the completion timeline. Whether you are crafting a 2D or a 3D game, the duration is usually decided by factors like:

• Artwork complexity
• Animation style
• Team size of artists and designers, etc. 

Hence, to obtain the right timeline estimation, you should consult with a leading industry expert now.

5. Engagement Model

Currently, businesses like yours have the chance to utilize popular engagement models like Fixed-Cost, Dedicated Hiring, Hourly Rates, or Time & Materials.

When you are picking the fixed-cost model, your project budget will be decided at the beginning, which cannot be altered. In the hourly rates model, your project budget will rise depending on your evolving requirements.    

However, in dedicated hiring, your project may upscale or downscale because this model enables you to adjust the team size that eventually impacts your game art budget significantly. Moreover, it also offers ROIs to your investment with the incorporation of unique game art ideas or style.

How Do You Choose the Ideal Game Art Studio?

Worldwide, there are numerous companies that are involved in providing game art outsourcing solutions. This usually makes it difficult for an average person to choose the right establishment.

So, to offer you useful guidance, we have unravelled certain steps that will enable you to find a suitable game art outsourcing firm to ensure the smooth execution of your project goals. 

• Conduct Thorough Research

When you are looking for a reliable game art outsourcing studio, it will be worth visiting platforms like Clutch, Design Rush, Good Firms, etc. Here, you will come across numerous game art studios with distinct experience ranges. This will allow you to select the right agency based on your specific requirements.

• Assess Game Art Portfolio

You should also experience the artwork quality of every game design studio thoroughly. For that, you can visit websites like Behance, Art Station, etc., where you will obtain a thorough view of the artwork quality of every game studio.

• Technical Expertise

You also need to see that the game studio of your choice has proven expertise in tools like Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop, Maya, ZBrush, Substance 3D Painter, and others. Only then should you consider engaging with it to assign your game artworks.

• Client Reviews

Before you communicate with a game design studio, you should also prioritize client testimonials and customer feedback. It will allow you to easily verify its market reputation, work quality, project delivery track-record, and so on.  

Why Choose Red Apple Technologies as Your Game Art Service Provider?

As a leading game development agency, we not only create games for different platforms but also make them visually tempting with the integration of leading-edge game art and design services. It is our responsibility to make sure that you get the desired value for your project vision. For this reason, we offer your benefits like:

• Genre-specific Artwork

Whether you want to develop a role-playing game, hyper-casual game, or a casino game, our art and design team evaluates your business requirements to provide the desired quality of artwork that will captivate your end users to play your game frequently. 

• High-end Expertise

Our designers, artists, and animators have proven expertise and skills to use advanced 2D and 3D game art software and tools like Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, Maya, ZBrush, etc. to bring life to your conceived characters, environments, etc., quite stylishly and realistically. 

• Faster Project Delivery

We make sure to complete your 2D and 3D artworks within the scheduled deadline without compromising quality and innovation. For that, we deploy the agile methodology.  

• Dedicated Assistance

We also help you hire game designers under the Dedicated model. It offers you the privilege to implement your game art vision with an unparalleled outcome without incurring additional expenses. 

Final Thought

When you are developing a mobile game, introducing high-quality artwork will help to raise the user engagement of your game across all platforms. So, to ensure the attractive look and feel of your upcoming mobile game, you should seek customized game art services from an experienced game art outsourcing agency like Red Apple Technologies. This will let you implement your imagination into lively and visually appealing characters, props, and backgrounds of a leading-edge quality. This recognized agency will also help you hire 2D artist, 3D artist, and other creative professionals under the Dedicated model.

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