As mentioned in the previous lesson, in larger companies, producers rarely get to work in a production role immediately, unless they have a lot of experience in the role beforehand. If you're not some industry superstar, you usually have to prove your worth first. There are multiple ways to do so, such as working in quality assurance or as an associate producer.
Game Producer
Just the role in general. This is commonly seen in small teams, in which a single producer is in charge of the entire development process. In a way, this is just a hybrid between the following, more specified roles. In terms of experience, this one is more open as well, since nothing stops a senior producer from working in smaller companies, for example.
Associate and Assistant Producer
An associate producer works under the supervision of another producer, which this also applies to the assistant producer. Their main purpose is to help the more experienced producers and deal with the tasks delegated to them.
They work on the game schedule, talk to team members, compile other people’s feedback, make sure that tasks get completed, attend meetings, and solve problems. Both these roles can be quite varied, as the requirements may change on a daily basis. They should have a good understanding of where the project is going at any point.
Senior Producer
This is a key role that involves a high level of interaction with project team members across all disciplines, external clients or partners, and internal leadership. The senior producer is the product owner and directly responsible for all aspects of the game product and game team. This title usually requires years of previous experience.
Live Producer
Their responsibilities include live development, such as actively supported online games, player retention and acquisition, customer support, analytics, digital sales, and the like. They often work closely with other producers and directors on the development team to prioritize and plan post-launch development and bring knowledge of game data, operational solutions, community sentiment, ongoing issues, and digital business to the table.
Internal Producer
Internal producers work within game studios as managers of teams. Basically, all the above duties can be handled by internal producers.
External Producer
External producers commonly work with publishers rather than developers. An external producer usually doesn’t play a part in the day-to-day business of how the project runs, but is mostly responsible for approving milestones, organizing quality assurance on the publisher side, and managing payments to developers instead. They are commonly involved in financial forecasting, budgeting, and planning across several projects rather than just one.
Match the correct pairs.
We've talked quite a lot about how the producers should manage their teams at all times, but how does one actually do it? Let's find out!