Jason Schreier (@jasonschreier.bsky.social)
bsky.app
Exact budgets of video-game productions can be tough to corroborate (more transparency from publishers would be nice!) but the numbers I've heard floating around AAA game dev these days are $300 million or more — sometimes much more! — which I think helps explain the current state of the industry

Full post: Exact budgets of video-game productions can be tough to corroborate (more transparency from publishers would be nice!) but the numbers I’ve heard floating around AAA game dev these days are $300 million or more — sometimes much more! — which I think helps explain the current state of the industry

To address some frequently asked questions:

  • These are US and Canada productions. If you’re wondering why game X cost so much less, it was probably made elsewhere
  • These budgets are almost entirely dev salaries + overheard and have nothing to do with executive compensation (which is mostly stock)
  • Katana314@lemmy.worldEnglish
    1·
    6 hours ago

    Expanding the team, by contracting or whatever approach they want, is the big mistake that leads a lot of these projects into hell. It draws time away from the core team, by both managing the contractors, and correcting the hundreds of artistic mistakes the contractors are doing. Most historically classic games I enjoyed came from a relatively small team.