Yet, if you log onto Fiverr — one of the world’s largest gig economy platforms — you can find countless sellers offering game development services at prices well below even the most unambitious indie budget.
While the graphics and mechanics of these games may be limited in scope, they are nonetheless playable — and, as several YouTubers have documented, they can be surprisingly fun.
Gig labour is a growing economic trend in which short-term contracts replace traditional full-time employment — one that has only accelerated throughout the pandemic.Platforms like Fiverr, Upwork and Freelancer foster the growth of gig work by acting as digital intermediaries between buyers and sellers, facilitating transactions across industries and regions while taking a healthy cut for themselves.For gig workers, these sites are battlegrounds where increased competition has created a “race to the bottom” where prices — and, by extension, wages — are driven down.
In a recent study, we investigated what game development looks like on Fiverr. We reviewed a number of seller profiles to see what services were available, how much they cost and who was making them. Through this work, we learned that gig economy game development varies greatly from the industry’s expected norms, and that Fiverr’s ostensibly global workforce is actually quite concentrated.
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