Why do some companies need hundreds of millions of dollars to develop popular video games? A few weeks ago, The New York Times blamed the endless effort to deliver photo-realistic graphics – and suggested that the industry was beginning to see diminishing returns, leading to layoffs and studio closures. However, Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier said this analysis was “a little bit off.” He does not deny that the budget has increased dramatically ($20 million for Naughty Dog “Uncharted 2” in 2009 vs. $220 million for “Last of Us Part II” in 2020) or that graphics play a role, but he says that it is. it requires a bigger team for a longer period of time – because of better graphics, yes, but also a lot of games. In addition, he writes that “everyone” who has spent at least a few years in the industry has “their own horror stories” about management decisions like “features canceled because the CEO’s teenage kids don’t like it” or teams of hundreds. people “freaked out in pre-production trying to figure out what the game’s ‘core loop’ would look like.” So, if game companies are really worried about ballooning budgets, Schreier says they should focus on “introspection” about the mismanagement that can ruin all their work and time.
