Former PlayStation and Xbox hiring lead launches Rocket Game Talent

• Rocket Game Talent targets indie studios and growing developers.
• Cherbak brings triple-A recruiting experience to smaller teams.
• The firm offers talent operations, recruiting and employer branding services.

Former Sony PlayStation and Xbox Game Studios talent leader Fiona Cherbak has launched Rocket Game Talent, a boutique fractional talent firm aimed at helping game studios build and scale their hiring operations.

The company will provide recruiting and talent operations services to studios of all sizes, with a particular focus on indie teams, startups and growing developers that may lack the internal resources of major publishers.

Cherbak previously served as talent acquisition lead at Sony PlayStation Worldwide Studios and as lead talent program manager at Xbox Game Studios, where she supported hiring across multiple first-party teams.

Moreover, the talent firm is designed to bring recruiting expertise to smaller studios without requiring the cost of a full-time internal hiring team. The firm will offer services spanning talent operations, infrastructure, full-cycle recruiting, employer branding and engagement programmes.

Indie advantage 

Cherbak’s career includes working on several major franchises and studios. During her time at Sony, she helped staff the team behind God of War, contributing to the hiring of more than 250 developers for the 2018 Game of the Year. 

She also worked on staffing for BioShock: Infinite at Irrational Games and led talent operations across 14 Xbox Game Studios teams working on franchises such as Halo, Forza and Gears of War.

The firm said it aims to help smaller studios compete for experienced talent by positioning creative vision and impact alongside traditional publisher stability.

"Most game talent specialists specialise in either triple-A or indie," said Cherbak. “I've carefully mastered both. 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. 

I understand both $200M blockbusters and bootstrapped startups - and that range is your advantage."