This week the Gamer Horizon crew list off their all time favorite video game development studios.
Former Naughty Dog artist Gabriel Betancourt explains why the "sweet spot" for game teams is under 200 people and how AAA "factories" kill creativity.
There’s definitely some truth to this. When teams get too large, coordination starts to outweigh creativity—layers of approval, risk aversion, and tight deadlines can turn bold ideas into “safe” ones. Keeping a team under ~200 people sounds ideal for maintaining clear communication and a shared vision. That said, massive AAA projects also come with huge technical demands and expectations, so scaling up isn’t always avoidable. The real challenge is figuring out how to keep that small-team creativity alive inside big studio structures.
More than that, it's logistically untenable. Inevitably, when teams get too large, how do you keep tabs on accountability? I suspect this massive team size is a consequence of the perfectionism streak Naughty Dog has.
I wish we could have so many people working on something and it turns out great because I'm all for collaboration in spirit - the problem is too many people as part of the larger team and smaller units. Suppose for example that you have too many people in the art department; you will very often come up against fiercely competing visions for how things should look. That competitive vision will cause friction between team members, team doesn't work as a unit, the back and forth can further delay parts that the other departments are waiting for, etc etc.
A 200-person team says, to me, that we need to scale back game development. Even if it means we go back to PS2 era costs and scale, why not? Those games are still great fun, the budgets were in check, and you could literally break the 200-man team into like 10 20-man teams working on different projects.
The rejection is non-final (and even when such rejections are labeled as “final”, the process is far from over, given that there can be, at minimum, an appeal to the Federal Circuit).
Good, as they should! A game mechanic like that shouldn't be locked behind a patent, and Nintendo didn't invent it either.
Nintendo wants to keep wasting money on bullshit lawsuits, real smart in this economy. They should put that money aside for other game projects. On the other hand, I don't care if they waste it all either, and they are screwed in the future maybe that will teach them a lesson.
my top 5 would maybe be like this:
1. Valve
2. Naughty Dog
3. Rockstar Games
4. Kojima Productions
5. Sony Santa Monica
Mine:
1. Naughty Dog
2. Valve
3. Rare (The original Rare)
4. Rockstar
5. Bethesda
I'd like to add Sucker Punch, but they need more games under their belt.
Clover almost made it, too. :/
Well then that list is HORRIBLE..
1. Nintendo
2. Naughty Dog
3. Ubisoft
4. Crytek
5. Sony Santa Monica
All these "game" devs are known to have great quality in multiple games that they make not just one game or series...
Each i could name about about 2-4 GREAT games that are separate IPs..
Interesting how different everyone's list in the article was.
My personal opinion:
1.Classic Rare
2.Nintendo
3.Squaresoft (not enix)
4.Valve
5.Naughty Dog
Man imagine if Rare was still as strong with all the same devs making games today. That would be amazing.
1: Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio
2: Nippon Ichi Software
3: Insomniac
4: Valve
5: Gust
Can't go wrong with those devs