An approved vendor list (Partnerbook) is a maintained set of external development partners a studio or publisher has vetted and cleared to work with — so teams aren't re-running due diligence from scratch every time a project needs outside help. Done well, it cuts sourcing from weeks to hours, keeps quality and legal standards consistent, and gives leadership visibility into who the company actually works with. This guide covers what a Partnerbook is, how to build one, what to put in it, and how to keep it from going stale.
What is an approved vendor list?
An approved vendor list is the set of service providers your organization has formally evaluated and authorized for use — across art, animation, cinematics, co-development, engineering, QA, localization, audio, and porting. It's the difference between "someone on the team knows a studio" and "the company has a vetted, shared, current roster anyone can source from." In Game Caviar, this lives as a Partnerbook: a saved, shareable collection of approved partners. For larger publishers, it's usually owned by a central external development or procurement function and shared across studios.
Why studios build one
Three reasons come up repeatedly. Speed — a pre-vetted Partnerbook turns a multi-week search into a same-day shortlist. Consistency — every partner clears the same bar for quality, security, and legal readiness, so standards don't drift team to team. Visibility — leadership can see partner coverage, gaps, and concentration risk instead of relying on tribal knowledge that walks out the door when someone leaves.
How to build an approved vendor list
A practical sequence:
Define your disciplines and standards. List the services you outsource and the bar each partner must clear — relevant shipped credits, capacity, security/IP posture, references.
Source candidates. Pull from referrals, conferences, and a curated platform rather than open-web directories, which are unvetted and go stale fast.
Vet consistently. Apply the same rubric to everyone: shipped work, discipline and engine fit, team size, NDA/MSA readiness, and a paid art or code test before approval.
Record the essentials. Capture capabilities, regions, rates, legal status, and a point of contact in one shared place — not scattered across inboxes and spreadsheets.
Save it as a Partnerbook. Give studios and teams the right level of access — full for owners, read-only for those who just need to source from it.
What to include for each vendor
At minimum: company name and primary contact, disciplines and specialisms, regions and time-zone coverage, shipped titles or representative work, rate-card information, NDA/MSA status, and a short internal note on fit and any past engagements. The legal-status field matters more than teams expect — knowing whether coverage is already in place is often what decides who gets the call when a deadline is tight.
How to keep it current
An approved vendor list decays the moment it's finished — partners change capacity, rates, and ownership; people leave and take context with them. Treat it as a living record with a clear owner, periodic review, and a single source of truth rather than a one-time document. This is exactly what a Partnerbook is built for: saved, shareable collections of vetted partners — with capabilities, status, and notes — that stay current and travel across your studio rather than living in one person's spreadsheet.
Frequently asked questions
Q: What is an approved vendor list in game development?
It's a maintained set of external development partners a studio or publisher has vetted and cleared to work with, so teams can source pre-approved partners quickly instead of re-running due diligence each time. In Game Caviar this is called a Partnerbook, and it spans art, animation, co-development, engineering, QA, localization, and audio.
Q: How do I build an approved vendor list?
Define your disciplines and standards, source candidates from curated platforms and referrals, vet everyone against the same rubric (credits, fit, capacity, NDA/MSA readiness, a paid test), record the essentials in one shared place, and save it as a Partnerbook with the right access for each team.
Q: What should an approved vendor list include?
For each vendor: contact, disciplines, regions and time-zone coverage, shipped work, rate-card info, NDA/MSA status, and an internal fit note. The legal-status field is the one teams most often overlook and most often need.
Q: How does Game Caviar help manage an approved vendor list?
Game Caviar combines a curated dataset of 1,400+ vetted partners with Partnerbooks — saved, shareable collections with capabilities, status, and notes — so your approved vendor list stays current and shared across studios instead of stranded in a spreadsheet.