How to Manage Leased Equipment for Your Gaming Studio

As a small gaming studio, you need to make your budget stretch as far as possible. You may not have the budget to purchase all of the equipment you need right out of the gate. Luckily there’s another option - using leased equipment.

Leased equipment for your gaming studio is a great option for companies who are just starting out and still trying to acquire operating capital. It’s also a great option for developers who need specialized equipment, but only for a specific part of the development process in one game.

Identify Currently Owned Equipment

Before you can start looking into leased equipment, you need to identify what you already have on hand. Can some of your current equipment be repurposed to work for several stages of development? The more use you can get out of each piece of hardware you have on hand, the less you’ll have to spend on leased equipment.

Remember, no piece of equipment is too small to include. You may find some things, like art supplies or one-time use items, are too small to need leasing. However, if you need specific tablets or computers with operating systems for each of your designers and animators, you might want to look into leasing these more expensive assets.

Identify Equipment Necessary for Stages of Production

Once you know what you have, it’s time to identify what you need. Knowing your production schedule can help you identify when you need to acquire any equipment you don’t already have. Will you require a specific VR rigging to test your upcoming VR title? Do you have all of the systems you plan to develop on?

Are there any specialized pieces of equipment needed for art directions or programmers for them to achieve the results you want? If so, write it all down in the same place you’ve recorded what you already own.

Find Companies Who Can Provide You With What You Need

Once you know what you need, it’s time to find vendors who can provide it to you. You don’t want to commit to working with a specific vendor, only to find they’re difficult to work with and don’t deliver on their promises.

Take some time to shop around. See what your options are, and find reviews of the companies available. Only after you’ve done your research should you commit to working with a specific vendor.

Have a Database Where You Can Track Your Leased Equipment For Your Gaming Studio

If anything, you need to take care of your leased equipment for your gaming studio better than the assets you own. After all, if anything happens to those items, you’ll have to pay the full cost of replacing them on top of what you’ve already paid to lease them.

Tracking your leased equipment in a centralized database can help you to ensure all of your contracts are up to date. You can configure it to send you notifications when your contracts are set to expire, or should anything not meet industry regulations.

You have a lot to manage when it comes to creating titles for your gaming studio. Each production stage requires specific work processes and contributions from each of your team members. Trying to manage your leased equipment on top of that without a plan can be difficult and time-consuming. However, Asset Panda can help you automate equipment tracking and make the whole process more efficient. Our centralized platform can help you put everything in one place, so you don’t have to run around trying to find the relevant information.