Why does it cost some companies hundreds of millions of dollars to develop a popular video game?
A few weeks ago, The New York Times blamed the endless quest to deliver more photo-realistic graphics — and suggested the industry is starting to see diminishing returns, leading to layoffs and studio closures.
However, Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier argues that this analysis is “a bit far-fetched.” He doesn’t deny that budgets have increased dramatically ($20 million for Naughty Dog’s Uncharted 2 in 2009 versus $220 million for Last of Us Part II in 2020) or that graphics play a role, but he said that it really ends up needing bigger teams for longer periods of time – because of the improved graphics, yes, but also the increased scope of the games.
Plus, he writes that “everyone” who has spent at least a few years in the industry has their “horror story” about management decisions like “the function being canceled because the CEO’s teenage son didn’t like it” or teams with hundreds of people “mess around in pre-production trying to figure out what the ‘main loop’ of a game will actually look like.”
So if game companies are really worried about growing budgets, Schreier says they should focus their “introspection” on the mismanagement that can end up wasting everyone’s work and time.
