An explanation for why video game budgets have swelled to $300 million and more.READ:Why So Many Video Games Cost So Much to Make https://www.bloomberg.com/n...
It’s not that long of a video, and he gets to the answer fairly quickly, then outlines examples using back of the napkin math. (average cost per developer per month) * (months of development) = cost of game. And then it’s the difference between real world numbers for those in 2015 and today. Average salaries have gone up, especially in major cities in the US, as have staff sizes to make AAA games, as has time needed to develop substantially larger games than we typically made in 2015, and that number balloons very quickly.
There’s also a lot of people in game development that have no idea what they’re doing. They’re in it for the money and because gaming is bigger than cinema, TV (streaming) and music combined they’re willing to throw a lot of cash at it.
I’ve never heard of anyone taking a game job because it pays extraordinarily well compared to another job they might be able to get with the same skill set. Definitely not recently. I’ve turned down a programming job in games because my non-game job paid way better, and that job I turned down didn’t even exist a year and change later, because the industry is so volatile and competitive.
It pays extraordinary well if you own shares and are a board member and want a CEO that maximizes your profits. As a shareholder you also have no idea about the medium but you know there is a lot of money in it so you throw money at it. Most of the biggest game companies are run by c-suites who couldn’t care less about games.
I think anyone with a fairly basic understanding of economics (and that is admittedly a declining number in many places) understands the idea that “salaries and benefits are expensive”.
What he doesn’t explain that would actually be helpful is why teams are so big. Like what are all the departments that work on AAA titles, what do they do, how many people on staff relative to other departments, what does a 3D modeler make vs. a gameplay programmer?
He also doesn’t talk about anything outside of staffing, like marketing, cinematics, voice acting, localization, bribing Geoff Keighley…
This would all be more useful than the baby math lesson provided.
What he doesn’t explain that would actually be helpful is why teams are so big.
Can you not see the difference in money on the screen between Halo 1 and Destiny 2? One person can make Halo’s relatively simple models, complete with nutcracker-esque mouth syncing, much faster than you can make the likes of Destiny’s quest givers with far more complexity to them. So if you want to make more of those kinds of NPCs, you need more people making them. The same goes for any other discipline involved in making a game.
Like what are all the departments that work on AAA titles, what do they do, how many people on staff relative to other departments, what does a 3D modeler make vs. a gameplay programmer?
That all comes out in the average cost per employee, which is the same ballpark math the publishers are using to estimate, and he says that in this video.
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It’s not that long of a video, and he gets to the answer fairly quickly, then outlines examples using back of the napkin math. (average cost per developer per month) * (months of development) = cost of game. And then it’s the difference between real world numbers for those in 2015 and today. Average salaries have gone up, especially in major cities in the US, as have staff sizes to make AAA games, as has time needed to develop substantially larger games than we typically made in 2015, and that number balloons very quickly.
There’s also a lot of people in game development that have no idea what they’re doing. They’re in it for the money and because gaming is bigger than cinema, TV (streaming) and music combined they’re willing to throw a lot of cash at it.
I’ve never heard of anyone taking a game job because it pays extraordinarily well compared to another job they might be able to get with the same skill set. Definitely not recently. I’ve turned down a programming job in games because my non-game job paid way better, and that job I turned down didn’t even exist a year and change later, because the industry is so volatile and competitive.
It pays extraordinary well if you own shares and are a board member and want a CEO that maximizes your profits. As a shareholder you also have no idea about the medium but you know there is a lot of money in it so you throw money at it. Most of the biggest game companies are run by c-suites who couldn’t care less about games.
I think anyone with a fairly basic understanding of economics (and that is admittedly a declining number in many places) understands the idea that “salaries and benefits are expensive”.
What he doesn’t explain that would actually be helpful is why teams are so big. Like what are all the departments that work on AAA titles, what do they do, how many people on staff relative to other departments, what does a 3D modeler make vs. a gameplay programmer?
He also doesn’t talk about anything outside of staffing, like marketing, cinematics, voice acting, localization, bribing Geoff Keighley…
This would all be more useful than the baby math lesson provided.
Can you not see the difference in money on the screen between Halo 1 and Destiny 2? One person can make Halo’s relatively simple models, complete with nutcracker-esque mouth syncing, much faster than you can make the likes of Destiny’s quest givers with far more complexity to them. So if you want to make more of those kinds of NPCs, you need more people making them. The same goes for any other discipline involved in making a game.
That all comes out in the average cost per employee, which is the same ballpark math the publishers are using to estimate, and he says that in this video.