iLogos Game Studios collaborated with PocketGamer to highlight the economic situation in Ukraine in time of war. Our company shared the details behind the scenes – how we stand, fight and how this situation influences the whole Ukrainian gamedev industry.
Our CBDO Svitlanka Sergiichuk, Board Member and CEO Nikolay Minaiev, and Head of Production Natalia Kuz had spoken about major struggles in the Ukrainian game market working under the pressure.
Impact of war
The impact of the war on the game industry’s operation is huge. From day one, each Ukrainian game dev studio had to balance keeping their teams alive and healthy, providing the necessary support to the teams’ families and to members who decided to stay and defend their homes, and making sure projects are not paused and business is moving forward.
During this terrible time for Ukrainians, the war forced businesses to develop plans to serve customers and staff quickly and efficiently. But we were prepared from the beginning when our company only began its path. iLogos was founded in Luhansk in 2006. The situation got worse in 2014 when the Russian invaders came to Donbas for the first time. Since then, the company has worked remotely. As a result, we have grown over time and become global.
“Back in 2014, we managed to relocate 300 game development professionals with their families to safer places. So, we were "lucky" to meet the second war prepared. Our work pipelines have been fully remote for the last eight years and, since the first Russia’s invasion in Donbas, our infrastructure accommodates distributed teams located in 13 countries” — says Svitlanka Sergiichuk
Work changes during the war
There has been a lot of adaptation work, which remains in progress, for the game dev industry, and we are actively cooperating with the other studios to help them adapt. This includes helping them switch to remote-first game production pipelines, establishing their own emergency relocation teams, booking group accommodation in the safer areas of Ukraine or in nearby EU countries, and organizing rotation of their international and Ukrainian teams for backup.
Now we need to protect Ukrainian talents. This is a challenge - our biggest hubs used to be in Kharkiv and Kyiv, and both cities are now under daily bombing. We must also guarantee proper backups for those who cannot work - increasing the capacities with the international teams. Our projects must keep going, the games must keep being developed. We are responsible for the projects of some of the world’s biggest games studios, and we will not allow a slowdown in the industry.
"Our key priority right now is keeping the ball rolling. Our projects must keep going, the games must keep being developed. We are responsible for the projects of some of the world’s biggest games studios, and we will not allow a slowdown in the industry" - adds Natalia Kuz
We understand that, at the time of war, it is very hard to concentrate and put the projects together. So we just wish to lead by example and encourage all the other amazing studios from Ukraine to keep going and keep moving forward. The industry needs our talents and Ukraine needs a strong economy backed by the games industry. We do our best to provide everything our teammates need.
How iLogos organized financial and emotional support
Our finance department has been working 24/7 to quickly serve the emergency financial support requests. Similarly, our international teams have also been working almost 24/7 on production to back up their Ukrainian colleagues who are relocating or temporarily cannot work due to serving in the Ukrainian Armed and Territorial Defense Forces.
Now our relocation and employee support center helps our teams by tracking the safe routes and free roads that are not shelled yet, providing support with transportation and accommodation, and gathering and systemizing all available information about volunteer services to coordinate and provide support across the EU. It even serves as an ad-hoc inquiries board for requests including releasing a cat trapped in an apartment in the bombing epicenter!
We have also temporarily changed the focus of our HR departments to support our existing talent with the necessary wartime resources and information. But, despite the war, we are still continuing to hire new talents to our teams. Although, of course, this process has undergone some changes.
“Working in days of war is a heroic act. We call this a fight, not on the battlefield but on the economical frontline, to keep the country’s economy and game development industry as alive as possible” — comments Nikolay Minaiev
What you can do to help Ukraine
The most important involvement the global games industry can demonstrate is to keep developing games with Ukrainian studios! Most studios are taking huge efforts to establish new hubs in Europe, with most successfully relocated, and are now eager to take over the new projects.
Read the original article on Pocketgamer.biz
