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Ocean View Games
Ocean View
Games
Why choose Ocean View Games

Why choose Ocean View Games

An honest comparison against the four real alternatives: freelancer, offshore agency, in-house hire, or junior-led studio. We will tell you when we are the right call, and when we are not.

Comparing studios in general? Read our buyer's guide to choosing a game development studio? Read our buyer's guide to choosing a game development studio.This page is about us specifically.

The headline differentiator

Ocean View Games is a two-engineer senior Unity studio. David, our Principal Unity Engineer, was Mobile Team Lead on RuneScape Mobile at Jagex (2017 to 2019). Adam, our Lead Unity Engineer, has 14 years in Unity gameplay and AI. There is no junior layer between you and the engineers building your project. The same person who sells you the work is the same person who writes the code.

That structure has trade-offs. We are not the cheapest option. We cannot ramp a team of 20 in two weeks. We do not take equity deals or gambling work. But for the right project, those constraints are features. Here is how we compare to your other options.

At a glance

UK-indicative figures. Day rates exclude VAT. We do not name specific competitor companies, only categories.

OVG

Day rate (UK indicative)
£500
Time to start
1 to 3 weeks
Senior engineers on the project
Always (the only people there)
Time zone overlap (UK)
Full
Communication channel
Direct to engineer
IP handover
Clean, contract-defined
Scale beyond two engineers
Via contractor bench
Best for
Senior-led delivery on complex projects

Freelancer

Day rate (UK indicative)
£250 to £700
Time to start
Days
Senior engineers on the project
Variable
Time zone overlap (UK)
Variable
Communication channel
Direct
IP handover
Risk depends on contract
Scale beyond two engineers
Limited
Best for
Tightly-scoped piecework

Offshore agency

Day rate (UK indicative)
£150 to £300
Time to start
2 to 6 weeks
Senior engineers on the project
Rarely after the sales call
Time zone overlap (UK)
Often 0 to 3 hours
Communication channel
Through PM
IP handover
Variable
Scale beyond two engineers
Yes
Best for
Volume production where time zone and seniority are negotiable

In-house hire

Day rate (UK indicative)
£400 to £550 fully-loaded
Time to start
2 to 6 months
Senior engineers on the project
Yes once hired
Time zone overlap (UK)
Full
Communication channel
Direct
IP handover
N/A (your IP)
Scale beyond two engineers
Slow (hiring)
Best for
Long-term core team

Junior-led studio

Day rate (UK indicative)
£300 to £450
Time to start
1 to 3 weeks
Senior engineers on the project
Usually one, juniors do the work
Time zone overlap (UK)
Variable
Communication channel
Through PM
IP handover
Variable
Scale beyond two engineers
Yes
Best for
Larger junior-friendly scopes

Where each option wins

OVG vs hiring a freelancer

When a freelancer is the right answer:

  • You have a tightly-scoped, well-defined task (a specific bug, a specific feature)
  • You can manage the engagement yourself and don't need a peer reviewer
  • The work doesn't depend on architectural decisions that affect the wider codebase
  • You're comfortable with single-person risk (illness, holiday, disappearance)
  • Budget is the dominant constraint

When OVG is better:

  • The work needs architectural judgement, not just execution
  • You want two engineers cross-reviewing each other's code
  • You need someone to push back when a brief is wrong
  • Project continuity matters across multiple months
  • IP and contract structure need to survive due diligence

OVG vs offshore agency

When an offshore agency is the right answer:

  • Volume production where seniority of every engineer doesn't matter
  • Art, animation, level design, asset production where the work is well-specified
  • Price is a dominant constraint and time zone is genuinely workable for you
  • The team you're hiring has a strong track record in your specific genre

When OVG is better:

  • The project needs UK or EU time zone overlap
  • You want the engineers who'll write the code to be in the same conversations as the buyers
  • Architecture, performance, or platform compliance are critical
  • You've been burned before by communication or quality issues on offshore engagements
  • You're shipping for a UK or EU audience and cultural fit matters

OVG vs in-house hire

When in-house is the right answer:

  • You're building a long-term studio, not a project
  • You want institutional knowledge that compounds over years
  • You have the runway to wait 2 to 6 months for the right hire and 6+ months for them to be productive
  • You have engineering management capacity to support the role
  • The work is core to your business and you want to own it deeply

When OVG is better:

  • You need to start now, not in three months
  • You're not sure yet whether you need a permanent role
  • You want senior judgement on the project without senior management overhead
  • The work has a clear endpoint and doesn't justify permanent headcount
  • You want to test what "good" looks like before defining the in-house role

OVG vs junior-led studio

When a junior-led studio is the right answer:

  • The work is well-scoped and doesn't need senior architectural decisions
  • Price is a major constraint and you have project management capacity to fill the seniority gap
  • You're comfortable managing risk yourself

When OVG is better:

  • The project is genuinely complex
  • You don't have the engineering management capacity to oversee juniors
  • The cost of getting it wrong (delayed launch, missed certification, technical debt) exceeds the rate difference
  • You want to talk to the engineer doing the work, not their PM

When not to hire us

We’d rather lose a deal than take on work we can’t deliver well. Here’s when to look elsewhere.

  • You need a 50-engineer AAA-scale team. We're not that, and we don't pretend to be. Look at a top-tier work-for-hire studio.

  • You need an art-led studio. We're engineering-led. Bring your own art direction or work with a partner who specialises.

  • Price is the dominant constraint. An offshore agency or a junior team will beat our rate. We won't compete on price.

  • You want a long-term in-house team. Hire one. We can bridge while you recruit, but we're not the destination.

  • The project involves NSFW, real-money gambling, or social casino. Hard no.

  • Equity-only deals. Cash terms only.

  • You need someone to nod along with a brief that's obviously flawed. We will push back honestly, and that's a feature, not a bug.

Frequently asked questions

If the work is well-scoped and execution-only, a senior freelancer is often the right call. Pick OVG when the work needs architectural judgement, when continuity across multiple months matters, or when you want a second pair of senior eyes cross-reviewing the code. We are two engineers reviewing each other; a freelancer is one engineer reviewing themselves.
Yes, via a vetted contractor bench we have built up over years. David and Adam stay on the project as the senior layer; trusted contractors handle additional scope when needed. We will never silently swap in someone you have not been introduced to.
Standard rate is £500 per day per engineer (excluding VAT), based on a 7-hour billable day. Offshore agencies typically charge £150 to £300 per day. The honest trade you make for the lower rate is some combination of seniority on your project, time-zone overlap, and direct access to the people writing the code. For some projects that trade is worth it; for others it is not.
David directly, throughout. Discovery calls, scoping, weekly check-ins, and code reviews all involve the engineers doing the work. We do not have a project manager layer, and we do not put a salesperson on calls who then hands off to someone else. The person who quotes you is the person who builds the project.
We offer both, plus monthly retainers for LiveOps. Which one fits depends on how well-scoped the work is. The full breakdown lives in How we work; we will not restate it here.
We will tell you why, in plain terms, and where possible point you to a category of partner that fits better (a larger work-for-hire studio, an art-led team, an offshore production house). We'd rather lose a deal than take work we can't deliver well, so the no is the same answer you would want from any partner you trust.

Still think we are the right call?

Tell us what you are building. David will run the discovery call himself, and we will tell you whether we are the right fit before we quote.

Talk to us

Not sure yet? Read our buyer's guide to choosing a studio.