Just a couple of years ago, opening the research and development center in Ukraine was something truly extraordinary. Today, there is no mystery to this affair.
Ukraine has become one of the greatest, most profitable destinations for investments. Leaders of various industries and niches have significantly reinforced their market positions by opening offices here. Yet, this country is far from being discovered completely. A huge potential is in place and what we see is in statistics is just a tip of an iceberg.
With that being said, many entrepreneurs still hesitate about their office opening in Ukraine. Along with lots of the advantages, some unexpected risks may still appear. But as you know, each business is risky. In this article, we would like to shed the light on the gamedev in Ukraine and enlist the top reasons you should extend your business borders with the Ukrainian market.
Quick Facts about Gamedev Industry in Ukraine
From Bloomberg to Harley Davidson, from Oracle to Bosh – hundreds of world-known companies have their offices in Ukraine. Qualified staff, nice infrastructure, similar mentality, and obvious financial profitability are the top reasons to manage business here. The number of eager investors grows annually.
The special position belongs to the gamedev, though. Let’s start with some statistical data:
- Kyiv occupies the 2nd position among the best cities for outsourcing;
- Over 20,000 of IT specialists devote their skills to game development, and most of them work in Kyiv, Odesa, Dnipro, Kharkiv, and Lviv;
- Android and iOS are the most popular platforms for the Ukrainian game development;
- The total gamedev revenue is expected to exceed 50% of the overall market profit;
- 25% of Ukrainian game development companies have released 10 or more globally popular games.
Those numbers can tell a lot about how the things are going in this country. With the comprehensive development of the IT industry, the gamedev branch improves as well.
Reasons to Open an R&D Center in Ukraine
Although Ukraine does not belong to the list of the best countries for living or the countries with the most stable economic situation, the human resources are its main wealth. Take a look at the following top reasons you should think over opening an R&D studio in Ukraine:
- Top Technical Talents
According to the official data, there are over 125,000 IT specialists in Ukraine. Each year, thousands of skilled educated IT experts graduate and start their professional IT career. Besides that, top Ukrainian companies tend to organize their own IT schools in order to train the top talents and hire the best of them. All this provides great opportunities for those planning to open an R&D center in Ukraine. Here, you will cooperate with the best European specialists, most of whom speak English fluently, which is crucial for successful cooperation.
- Seamless Recruiting
How does your recruitment process look like at the moment? Let us guess, you either deal with the complicated set of tasks yourself or hire the team of recruiters to handle it all. The point is, in both cases, you lose a lot of time, money, and energy to reach the expected result. And let’s be honest: the result is not always satisfying. Starting the business in Ukraine, you get access to the competent recruiters and recruitment agencies who can professionally represent your brand and your interests in the market.
- Well-Established HR Processes
Recruitment is the essential but not final stage of the cooperation. After the specialists are all on the board, someone needs to take care of the proper work conditions, salaries, compensation and benefits, etc. Ukrainian market demonstrates great achievements in the HR field. Ukrainian human resource managers know how to make the specialists turn their heads towards your business. A Ukrainian HR is not just an employee but a brand ambassador.
- Convenient Infrastructure
Finding an office in a big city is a challenge. How much time are you ready to spend to open an office in your neighbourhood? In Ukraine, this problem is eliminated. There are lots of service providers to help you with some significant tasks. There are big IT hubs in each of the greatest cities. In fact, you get rid of the hardest tasks by opening an R&D center here.
- Transparent Taxes Policy
Setting up a business is tricky. Setting up a business in a foreign country is unclear, risky, and, at times, problematic. The simplified taxes policy in Ukraine will meet your needs perfectly, however. And the qualified lawyer can make a quick introduction to the whole legacy system for you.
Opening an R&D center of a gamedev company in Ukraine is the push for your business improvement. This is the way to delegate the most difficult and time-consuming tasks to the local professionals. Along with all these advantages, there is one more thing we would like to draw your attention to.
Service costs and surprisingly low salaries
As we have already mentioned above, Ukraine is famous for its great HR potential. Local professionals demonstrate the particular expertise in their field of proficiency. But for you as an entrepreneur, the financial conditions matter much.
The average salary of IT professional in Ukraine is $14,400. The development costs here are lower than in all the Western European countries, as well as in Poland, Russia, and Belarus. Let’s take a closer look:
- Top managers have the highest earning – almost $40,000 annually;
- DevOps occupy the second position with $30,000;
- Game developers and project managers earn $24,000;
- And the list continues with support professionals earning $13,000, video game designers $12,000, and QA Engineers almost $10,000.
As you can see, the salaries of gamedev industry professionals are considerably lower here in comparison to the USA.
Top 5 Gamedev Companies that Run Their Business in Ukraine
Another reason for you to start the cooperation with IT developers in Ukraine is that top companies are already based here. We mean not only Google and Nasa, but also R&D centers of various renowned game development companies. To have a clear vision of the business value, take a look at the top 5 gamedev companies with the offices in Ukraine:
- Ubisoft
This French company with over 10,000 employees in staff has one of its centers in Ukraine. Up to 200 specialists work here in Kyiv office. You may know their great creation called Assassin’s Creed.
- Crytek
The overall number of the company’s employed specialists is almost one thousand. And up to 200 of them work in the Ukrainian office. Their great free online shooter Warface was developed right here.
- Playtech
This is the great USA-based company with the great R&D center in Ukraine. Almost 800 designers and developers create variations of digital Casino, Bingo, and Poker here.
- Gameloft
Gameloft has the offices in France, the USA, Canada, Spain, Germany, etc. And one of the locations is Ukraine! This company is famous for mobile game development.
- Playtika
More than 10,000 IT specialists work at this gamedev company. Their Ukrainian offices are located in Kyiv, Dnipro, and Vinnytsa. Some of their creations joined the top 10 games on Facebook.
The success of these gamedev companies is inspiring. And you can join the front runners as well.
Final Thoughts
DNA325 is your consulting partner to open an R&D center in Ukraine. We know how to provide you with the full cycle of all the related services. Our motivation is your success; our reputation depends on your achievements. So contact us to find out about even more reasons to launch your new unique game on the Ukrainian gamedev market!
