Highlights
- Former PlayStation and Xbox talent leader, Fiona Cherbak, launches Rocket Game Talent to support indie studios.
- The agency offers fractional recruiting, hiring systems, and talent operations without full-time HR costs.
- Cherbak brings 20+ years of experience staffing teams behind titles like God of War and BioShock: Infinite.
Fiona Cherbak, a former talent leader at PlayStation Worldwide Studios and Xbox Game Studios, has launched Rocket Game Talent. The agency focuses on helping indie studios build hiring systems. The firm operates as a fractional talent operations partner, providing hiring strategy and recruiting systems to studios on a flexible basis instead of requiring a full-time talent department.
The agency aims to adapt large-studio recruiting practices to suit smaller development teams competing for talent. Cherbak said the goal is to provide “Fortune 500 recruiting expertise without the cost of a full-time hire.”
Cherbak previously served as worldwide talent acquisition lead at Sony PlayStation. She later worked as lead talent program manager at Xbox Game Studios, overseeing talent operations across 23 first-party studios.
During her career, she worked with teams including Turn 10 Studios, known for the Forza franchise, and Santa Monica Studio, developer of God of War.
Cherbak stated her experience across both large publishers and smaller teams informs the company’s approach. “Most game talent specialists specialize in either AAA or indie. I've carefully mastered both,” she said.
She added, “I understand why your 50-person studio can't hire like Xbox does— and I know how to position you to win top talent anyway.”
Rocket Game Talent Targets Hiring Infrastructure Gaps for Indie Developers
According to the company’s website, Rocket Game Talent provides full-cycle recruiting services. These include sourcing candidates, screening applicants, negotiating offers, and onboarding developers for both contract and full-time roles.
The agency also helps studios build hiring infrastructure, including recruiting workflows, applicant tracking systems, interview training, and talent metrics. It also supports employer branding, university recruiting, industry events, and diversity programs.
Cherbak has more than 20 years of recruiting experience in the games industry. During that time, she helped recruit developers for titles such as God of War and BioShock: Infinite across major publishers and indie studios.
Rocket Game Talent enters a segment that already includes industry-renowned recruitment firms such as Aardvark Swift and ii Connection. These firms help studios hire developers and build hiring pipelines.
For indie developers that often lack internal recruiting teams, a fractional hiring model could become increasingly relevant as projects scale. It remains to be seen whether Rocket Game Talent can grow alongside the expanding independent development sector.
However, if demand for flexible talent operations grows, Cherbak’s experience across AAA and smaller studios could support the company’s growth.
