We interview Yoav Hornung from Fiverr on their new Gaming Store

By Laura Burke

Posted on July 11, 2019

I sat down with Yoav Hornung, Vertical Manager from Fiverr to talk about their new gaming focused store, how it works, how it’ll connect to how games are made, and more. Yoav led the charge on this new effort for the company, so he provided quite a bit of insight into its intent and how people might utilize it. It’ll be interesting to see how this impacts the landscape for future development.

The store is now live, split up into a few categories. Gamers and Streamers can get what they need here, game developers can find services at this link, and there is a “general store” with a mix of everything as well.

GT – Fiverr has long been a great source for logos, voice work, editing, code, and similar micro-projects. Now you are moving into the boarder gaming industry. How will Fiverr differentiate itself from the professional outsourcing houses that tackle this sort of work?

Fiverr’s goal is to become the “everything store for digital services” by providing a fast, frictionless, e-commerce type experience for both its buyers and sellers. By launching this new industry-specific store, we are using our “service-as-a-product” model to democratize access to gaming related services including quality game development, game writing and video editing and more. Never before has the gaming industry had access to global freelance talent with the click of a button.

GT – You’ve got a nice demo game called Pandea Stones. How long did that take to put together, and is it actually final? What would you imagine a similar project would take in terms of time and dollars?

Every project completed on Fiverr is different; different in terms of scope, price, etc. We do not dictate what freelancers or sellers on our platform can charge. Rather it is up to them to determine what value they place on their time and their experience. At the same time, every buyer is looking for a service with a different budget in mind. The amazing thing about Fiverr is that you can find services that fit within a variety of budgets, whether you only have $50 to spend or you have $5000.

GT – QA is commonly outsourced to companies like VMC, Experis, and Lionbridge. Is Fiverr planning on working in this space, and if so, how would that work for a major publisher?

Fiverr provides the platform for freelancers to offer all types of services in the area of software quality checks and assurances. The marketplace already attracts talented professionals and groups with specific expertise in particular platforms and software to experience in various quality areas (such as performance, usability, vulnerability, etc.). As Fiverr continues to grow and our freelancers become even more specialized, we continue to service even larger clients and publishers.

GT – Fiverr has a tiered system that lets users find experienced individuals. How does this work on a larger scale when you likely have multiple teams working together?

Fiverr is always looking for ways to increase the connectivity and collaboration amongst its community members. That said, at the moment, it’s up to the buyer to determine the services they need and seek out sellers who specialize in that service. There are also a lot of sellers on the platform who specialize in a variety of services. For instance, this seller is actually a team of people that offer a variety of services around game and app development. Their skills include Object C, Swift, UNITY, Java and more.

GT – Do you see this new “Ultimate Gaming Store” being more focused at Indies, larger companies, or something in between?

We see this new Gaming Store as a resource for both the Indies and the larger companies. The average person looking to create a game can easily find the talent and services they need on Fiverr. However we also see this store and the services in it as a resource to developers within the big companies help to lighten their load.

GT – Beyond professional game development, Fiverr has long been a great source of things like Twitch overlays, transitions, and animations. How will this shift push these services differently?

These services will still be available in the Gaming Store, only now everything will be much easier to find and more easily accessible. And with a greater focus on gaming, we’ll be putting more emphasis on onboarding quality talent to our marketplace to better service the growing demand for gaming related services.

GT – Will Fiverr have a system where users can search for specific certifications that companies might want to employ (e.g. Agile, Kanban, etc.) when they bring the project back in house?

We are continually improving the product and looking for unique and visually appealing ways for sellers to showcase their skills and differentiate themselves. At the moment, we do not showcase these particular certifications as part of the buyer decision making process, but this is certainly something we are considering for the future.

GT – When will the Gaming Store launch for gamers and companies to use?