GDC Side Quest - Exploring co-development opportunities with Sam Carlisle

Game Developer Podcast

September 25, 2026

Game productions are growing larger and larger, and business leaders are looking everywhere for solutions on how to ship great games without blowing up budgets. One solution lies in the world of co-development and external development—the practice of hiring outside studios to work in tandem with the main game development team to pick up tasks big and small, sometimes taking ownership over entire segments of a game.

But picking an external partner is no easy feat. Game development is still a creative, iterative process, and treating co-dev and ex-dev colleagues as glorified contractors can lead to disaster.

Today on GDC side quest, content marketing manager Beth Elderkin and XDS Spark co-founder Steve Carlisle dive in to the nuances of co-dev and ex-dev to give listeners a crash course in this field that's been with game development for decades, but now may be a lifeline for studios and job-seekers alike.

About the Game Developer Podcast

The Game Developer podcast is a bi-weekly podcast chronicling the triumphs, catastrophes, and everything in-between of game development, sharing lessons and strategies fellow developers can use to hone their craft. The Game Developer Podcast is hosted by Bryant Francis, edited by Pierre Landriau, and features music by Mike Meehan.

GDC Side Quest is hosted by GDC Festival of Gaming Marketing Manager Beth Elderkin.

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Game Developer and GDC Festival of Gaming are sibling organizations under Informa Festivals.

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