Do We Need to Change NDA's in Games?

One of the most common conversations I have with artists and animators when reviewing portfolios is also one of the most difficult problems to solve. "I have newer work, but I can't show it." It's a sentence I hear constantly, and in an industry where portfolios are one of the biggest deciding factors in whether someone gets an opportunity, it's becoming a genuine barrier for candidates trying to progress.

The reality is that studios will always want to see up to date work. A portfolio is designed to showcase your current ability, your latest workflows and the level you are capable of working at today. However, the very projects that demonstrate that growth are often the exact projects candidates are unable to share due to NDA agreements. This creates a strange situation where studios want proof of the most recent experience, while also being part of an industry structure that often prevents people from showing it.

This isn't a criticism of NDA's themselves. They exist for a reason. Games are incredibly competitive, development information is sensitive and protecting unreleased projects is obviously important. However, as the industry continues to grow, with longer development cycles, more outsourcing and more movement between studios, it does raise an interesting question.

Do we need a better system?

The Portfolio Problem

For many artists, the biggest issue with NDA's is the timing.

A developer might spend three or four years working on a project, building assets, improving workflows and contributing to something that represents the highest standard of their career. Then, for various reasons, they leave the studio. The project may still be years away from release, delayed indefinitely or even cancelled entirely.

Suddenly, those years of experience become almost invisible.

The artist has technically gained years of AAA production experience, but from the outside, their portfolio may look like they haven't worked on anything significant recently. They may be applying with older examples simply because they are the only pieces they are legally allowed to share.

This creates an unfair situation where somebody can be judged against candidates with more visible portfolios, despite having potentially equal or greater experience.

The problem becomes even bigger for people affected by layoffs. Someone can spend years working on a project, be made redundant due to wider studio circumstances and then enter the job market unable to showcase the work they were doing immediately before leaving.

Their experience exists, but they cannot prove it.

Could There Be an NDA Co-Signing System?

One possible solution could be creating a more formalised system that allows candidates to privately showcase recent work during recruitment processes.

The idea would be relatively simple. When joining a studio, an NDA agreement could include a clause that allows an employee to demonstrate their latest work for future career opportunities, provided certain conditions are met.

For example, a candidate could show unreleased work during a recruitment process only if the hiring studio agrees to co-sign responsibility for protecting that information. The work would remain confidential, it would not be publicly displayed and it would only be accessible to approved hiring teams.

Essentially, it would create a controlled environment where candidates can prove their ability without compromising the original studio's intellectual property.

There are already examples of similar approaches in other creative industries. Film, animation and VFX regularly deal with highly confidential projects, yet professionals often have ways of demonstrating their experience privately through reels, interviews and controlled portfolio reviews.

Games has a unique challenge because of the length of development cycles, but the principle remains the same.

The Potential Benefits

The biggest benefit is obvious. Candidates would have a fairer opportunity to represent their actual skill level.

Instead of hiring teams making decisions based on work that may be several years old, they would be able to see what somebody is capable of right now. This would particularly benefit experienced developers who have spent years working on confidential AAA projects.

It could also help studios hire more accurately.

A portfolio only showing older work might not represent someone's current abilities, meaning companies could potentially overlook excellent candidates simply because their most relevant experience is hidden. A more flexible NDA system would allow hiring managers to make decisions based on better information.

It could also help solve one of the biggest problems in recruitment, which is the increasing demand for highly specific experience. If studios want specialists with experience in particular engines, workflows or pipelines, candidates need a way to demonstrate those skills.

The Challenges and Risks

Of course, this isn't a simple problem with a simple solution.

The biggest challenge is trust. Studios spend years and millions of pounds developing games, and protecting that information is essential. A system like this would require incredibly clear rules around what can be shown, who can see it and what happens if information is shared incorrectly.

There would also be questions around consistency. Would every studio agree to these terms? Would larger publishers with more sensitive projects be comfortable with it? Would smaller studios feel like they are losing control over their intellectual property?

There is also the question of fairness. If one candidate is able to show confidential AAA work while another cannot, does that create an uneven playing field? Would companies need to create standardised processes around confidential portfolio reviews?

The solution would almost certainly be more complicated than simply adding a clause into contracts.

However, the current system also has its own problems.

Finding a Better Balance

The games industry has changed dramatically. Development cycles are longer, projects are bigger, teams are more international and people move between studios more frequently than ever before.

The traditional idea of spending ten years at one company and building a portfolio through publicly released games no longer reflects the reality of the industry.

At the moment, there is a contradiction. Studios want to see current work. Candidates want to show current work. Everyone benefits from accurate representation of someone's skills. Yet the structures around NDA's often prevent that from happening.

Nobody wants unreleased games appearing online. Nobody wants confidential information leaked. Protecting creative work is incredibly important.

But there has to be a conversation around whether there is a better middle ground.

If someone spends three years contributing to a project, only for that project to be cancelled, delayed or remain unreleased, those years should not become a blank space on their career history. Their contribution still happened. Their skills still developed. Their experience still matters.

The industry has evolved. Perhaps the way we handle portfolios and NDA's needs to evolve alongside it.