Services How partnership works
This page is the detail behind Services: what partnership feels like, how product talent fits, and how we start — whether you’re still in development, testing with real people for fit, or already live. For practice areas and engagement shapes (workshop through longer arc), stay on Services.
15+ yrs · 50+ titles EA · Ubisoft · SYBO · Spil · Nazara
Who this is for
Long-lived games where product, live ops, measurement, and talent have to move together — not only after launch.
How we show up on every engagement: domain expertise, lockstep with your goals, professionally delivered — explained on Services.
Product talent
Talent is one of four practices on Services. Here is what it means when the engagement is a partnership, not a hire-only project.
Senior product craft on the live plan: prioritisation, economy, year honesty, player-value language (MRM, AFITMRR™) — applied to your goals, not a generic agenda.
Hiring and bar for product and live roles who own loops — so the model doesn’t depend on one external forever. Clear role design, interview judgment, capability that stays.
Why limited engagements
Long-lived games need senior judgment. They do not always need another permanent seat on the org chart to get it. Focused windows — workshop through fixed term — mean you can bring multi-title craft in for the weeks that matter, with energy on the problem, and without carrying unused capacity when the heat has moved on.
Bounded problem, bounded window, lockstep with your goals. Not theatre. Not a forever retainer for basic hygiene. If a full-time hire is the cleaner answer, we will say so.
Humility about whose game it is. Energy on the mess that is actually in front of you — numbers, loop, people, the decision this week. Something left with your team when the window closes.
Full field note: Grow the game without growing the overhead. Shapes of work live on Services.
How we start
No RFP theatre. Enough context to be useful — then a focused first step with your teams, not a blank multi-year contract. Limited by design when the problem is bounded (why that matters). Shapes live on Services.
Use Partner Up or email paul@yardstickgames.com. A few paragraphs beat a perfect brief. Helpful if you can include:
Don’t share player PII or confidential dumps. High-level is fine for the first exchange.
Not a generic capabilities pack. You’ll get a clear read on fit, which practice(s) matter, and a sensible shape from the Services menu.
If we’re the wrong partner, we’ll say so. If a free tool or public note is enough, we’ll point there first — partnership is for craft on the title.
One working session — not a sales marathon. We pressure-test the problem, separate symptoms from system issues, and name what “done” means for a first engagement.
Outcomes: shared problem statement, proposed shape and horizon, who needs to be involved next.
Most partnerships begin with a bounded first piece of work. Deeper terms only follow when both sides see value. Exit is designed in: rituals, language, capability left with your team.
More on the bar: what good partnership looks like.
FAQ
Search often uses that phrase. We deliver senior product and live-game services as partnership — with product talent in the mix — not a freelanced backlog alone. Practice menu: Services.
No. Product is central; live production, analytics, and talent are first-class — see practice areas and expert live services.
Engagement shapes are on Services. This page covers how we start and what partnership means day-to-day.
Tell us where the game is. We’ll answer with how we’d start.
