01
Calibrate
Your one-liner becomes a production-grade spec, tuned to your pipeline and your taste.
A written spec you approve
Verified talent for game studios
Hand us the role. Get back a working artist.
Sourcing across the pipelines your studio already runs
Unreal Engine
Unity
Blender
Houdini
Autodesk Maya
ArtStation
* Demo candidates are illustrative: generated faces, invented names and studios. Engine and platform marks belong to their owners and imply no affiliation with HireCrit.
Chosen by studios that hire on evidence
Every number here is one we commit to on the rest of this page, measured on real searches.
Paid on start
01234567890123456789%
When the artist starts
Agencies retain 20 to 25 percent up front. You pay on a working hire.
Your time back
01234567890123456789min
Of your time, end to end
We run the sourcing, the verification and the paid test. You make the calls.
Decision ready
01234567890123456789days
To a verified shortlist
Every profile arrives with authorship confirmed on the source files.
Covered to day 90
Day01234567890123456789
Replacement guarantee
Every placement is covered to day 90 with a replacement if it does not hold.
Two of these routes leave the vetting with you.
Six things decide a senior art hire. Here is how each answers.
HHireCritHR agenciesAI sourcing tools
FeeHireCrit
12% when the artist starts
HR agencies20-25% retained or on placement
AI sourcing tools$99 to $250 per seat, billed yearly
EvidenceHireCrit
Authorship verified on source files
HR agenciesPortfolio taken at face value
AI sourcing toolsPublic profiles, self-reported
TestingHireCrit
Paid art test, reviewed blind
HR agenciesUnpaid test or no test at all
AI sourcing toolsNo test. You screen every lead
SpeedHireCrit
Verified shortlist in 10 business days
HR agenciesWeeks of back and forth
AI sourcing toolsLists in seconds, vetting still on you
TermsHireCrit
Published rates, no exclusivity
HR agenciesQuoted per deal, exclusivity asked
AI sourcing toolsAnnual seat contract, hire or not
GuaranteeHireCrit
Replacement guarantee to day 90
HR agenciesGuarantee ends at the invoice
AI sourcing toolsYou license software, not outcomes
Fee range from published 2026 list pricing for Juicebox, hireEZ and SeekOut seats.
You make 0123456789 decisions. We run everything else.
Four calls that should never be delegated. We run the other 01234567890123456789 hours.
Send one sentence. We return a production-grade spec with two or three sharp questions.
What we handle
Six stages, run under your studio name, visible end to end.
02
Source
We search by the work itself: shipped titles and portfolios, never keywords on a resume.
A longlist built from shipped work
03
Evaluate
Authorship checks, credit verification and expert judgment before anyone reaches your desk.
A verification note per artist
04
Outreach and test
Human-written outreach under your studio name, then a paid art test reviewed blind.
Blind-reviewed test results
05
Offer
Rate benchmarks, negotiation and contracts, closed without the awkward parts landing on you.
A rate benchmark and a signed contract
06
Perform
Structured check-ins through day 90. If it is not working, we replace. That is the guarantee.
Check-ins through day 90
Everything we show you is real.
Generated portfolios, borrowed work, credits nobody can check. Every claim below is something the console proves before a name reaches your shortlist.
Watch the search work
Every stage is visible while it runs, under your studio name.
Brief confirmed
5 criteriaSourced by portfolio
412 worksAuthorship verified
38 artistsPortfolio analysis
26 piecesPaid test in review
blindOffer and rate benchmark
queuedJudged against your criteria
Your brief becomes explicit criteria. Hard filters gate, the rest ranks.
Hands-on Unreal and Niagara evidence
required
Houdini or shader technical depth
required
Authorship confirmed on source files
required
Destruction and impact work shipped
ranking
Reviewed blind, ranked
Paid tests reach senior reviewers with no names attached.
01
A
Candidate A9 verified piecesTest passed
02
B
Candidate B7 verified piecesTest passed
03
C
Candidate C11 verified piecesIn review
Where does software fit? It does the heavy lifting: searching, structuring, scheduling, tracking. That is why we charge half an agency fee and move in days. People make every judgment that matters, and a person signs off on every shortlist.
Published, flat, and only paid on outcomes.
No retainers, no exclusivity, no invoice until your artist starts. Contract fees ride alongside the work, month by month.
New placement
12%invoiced when your artist starts
Contract roles bill 12% of billings across the first twelve months, monthly, as the work runs. Full-time roles bill 12% of first-year compensation.
When money moves
- Search startsno invoice
- Shortlist deliveredno invoice
- Offer acceptedno invoice
- Artist startsfirst invoice
- While the work runs12% monthly
Start a search
No retainers. No exclusivity.
- 10%
Market Scan subscribers
Studios on the Market Scan subscription place at a reduced rate.
- 2-3%
Rehires and renewals
Bring back an artist we placed, with contracts, benchmarked rates and the guarantee reinstated.
We publish our pricing. Ask a traditional agency to do that.
Your work, verified. Your credits, yours forever.
HireCrit is free for artists, and built around the things this industry keeps getting wrong.
Judged by your work, not your resume
Real portfolios and shipped titles are the signal, including NDA-locked credits we verify confidentially.
Art tests are always paid
Blind-reviewed by senior artists. Never free labor, never busywork.
Verified credits travel with you
Every placement adds portable, verified credentials to your record. Free, forever.
No scraping and selling
Your profile is yours. Nothing is monetized without your explicit consent.
Claim your profile
Free for artists. Your profile stays yours.
The questions producers actually ask.
Anything still open goes to hello@hirecrit.ai.
12% when your artist starts, 10% if you subscribe to Market Scan. For contract roles that is 12% of billings across the first twelve months, billed monthly alongside the work. Nothing upfront, no retainer, no exclusivity. A traditional agency charges 20 to 25 percent.
Your next senior artist, already working.
Send one sentence. Get a verified shortlist in 10 business days, and pay nothing until your artist starts.