It’s nigh on summertime, which means there is more time to spend with loved ones, catching up on things that need to be done around the house and planning vacations; then you remember that gargantuan Jenga tower of video games that you’ve placed on a backburner and throw all of that productive nonsense out of the window. It’s time for gaming.
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.
In 2023, developed by Blizzard Entertainment, Overwatch 2 was released, which was basically a big, glorified update of the original game that launched in 2016. Now, it’s simply reverted to being called just Overwatch, which is probably for the best.
The second iteration of Overwatch was released on the original Nintendo Switch, and while it’s still an enjoyable game with cross-play/progression functions, it’s still lacking in terms of performance and visuals, compared to its PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S counterparts. Well, it was.
As of today, the second iteration of Overwatch is natively available on the Nintendo Switch 2, just in time for Season 2: Summit.
The Nintendo Switch 2 version of Overwatch will have increased resolution both in handheld and docked modes, enhanced textures and lighting, up to 60 frames-per second, improved audio and more.
Blizzard is readying a patch to address the issue that the game is still running in Switch 1 build and just 30 fps.
you'd think they'd test it before pushing it live, lol.
that being said, clearly it's not running as intended.
They know it for sure. Maybe they didn't finish optimizing the game by the targeted release date. That's why they released the Switch 1 30fps version first. XD
Nexon has entered a publishing agreement with Blizzard for Overwatch in Korea, with the companies working to deliver services 'tailored' for the region.
As a teacher, summer is nonstop, full-on gaming. My family doesn't like to take vacations and they all game anyway, so it's a win-win-win. I usually game about 12 hours a day during the summer, compared to maybe 2-3 hours during the school year, so it's backlog crushing time for me too!