In this episode of The Allcorrect Gamedev Show, we chat with Brooke Van Dusen, founder of CDR External Development and author of Pixel Procurement. Brooke shares how his path from a Nintendo-filled childhood to Twitch’s golden days shaped his career, why he built CDR as a “full-stack outsourcing department” for studios, and how outsourcing still struggles with stigma in gamedev. We dive into his unforgettable story of bringing Snoop Dogg to a battle royale launch, his advice for young outsourcing studios and newcomers to the industry, and his vision of how AI, Roblox, and new business models will reshape games in the next decade.
Timecodes:
00:01:00 – First Memories of Video Games
00:04:07 – Entering Games Through Twitch
00:05:56 – The “Golden Days” of Twitch
00:07:01 – Founding CDR External Development
00:09:55 – The “Uber of Outsourcing” (But Not Quite)
00:11:17 – How CDR Differs From Competitors
00:14:20 – The Critical Role of Networking
00:17:14 – The Outsourcing Stigma
00:21:02 – The Problem With Aggressive Sales
00:25:21 – Evaluating Studio Credibility
00:28:23 – Why Portfolios Beat Demos
00:31:15 – Advice for Young Outsourcing Studios
00:35:08 – The Risk of AI Content Floods
00:38:25 – The Snoop Dogg Story
00:48:10 – The Future of the Games Industry
Text version of this podcast episode: “Outsourcing Without the Stigma”.
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