This year has been a bloodbath for game developers, with job cuts happening across companies big and small, so that naturally brings up questions – namely, why is game development in the United States so expensive and what can be done about it? These are the questions that a Game Developer piece pondered, as it looked at the situation and asked executives from game studios and publishers of all sizes their opinions on the matter.
As one might perhaps expect, there are several conflicting opinions from studio bigwigs: Some argue for and against the efficiency of work-from-home, others talk about making team sizes flexible versus keeping a studio team close-knit, and there’s an observation that many companies are unwilling to adapt to change.
Multiple other factors fold into the equation as well, such as game development being seated at areas of the US that have high costs of living, the costs of private health coverage, the unique problem of prototyping eating money while not creating a product (referred to as “funding for failure”), and a distinct lack of government subsidies to encourage the arts despite executives arguing that game development can bring in jobs.
As for solutions, there’s no immediate silver bullet, but the piece suggests that studios establishing themselves and releasing titles without the need for outside investment is one of the better paths to making game development more sustainable in America. It’s ultimately a sticky wicket with no clear solutions, but answering the questions is important in the face of investors shifting money to outside countries, and the piece concludes that fighting the doom and gloom is important.
