What’s behind video game budgets?

Why does it cost some companies hundreds of millions of dollars to develop a popular video game?

A couple of weeks ago, the New York Times accused the endless quest to provide more photo-realistic graphics— and suggested the industry is starting to see diminishing returns, leading to layoffs and studio closings.

However, Jason Schreier of Bloomberg supports this analysis is “a little off the mark”. He does not deny that budgets have grown dramatically ($20 million for Naughty Dog’s “Uncharted 2” in 2009 versus $220 million for his “Last of Us Part II” in 2020) or that graphics have a role, but it has said that really. it boils down to needing bigger teams for longer periods of time – due to improved graphics, yes, but also the increasing scope of games.

In addition, he writes that “everyone” who has spent at least a few years in the industry has “their own horror story” about management decisions such as “function that is canceled because the teenager of the CEO didn’t like it” or teams of hundreds of people “deep down in pre-production while trying to figure out what will really be the “core loop” of a game.

So if gaming companies are really worried about their budgets, Schreier says they should focus their “introspection” on mismanagement that can end up wasting everyone’s work and time.