What drives the video game budget?

Why do some companies spend so much money to make popular video games?

A few weeks ago, The New York Times criticized it a never-ending quest to deliver true-to-life images– and said the industry is starting to see a recession, leading to layoffs and studio closures.

However, Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier rejects this analysis and “slightly off the mark.” He doesn’t deny that the budgets have grown significantly ($20 million for Naughty Dog’s “Uncharted 2” in 2009 vs. $220 million for “Last of Us Part II” in 2020) or that the graphics work, but he said it. it depends on the importance of the big teams for a long time – because of the good graphics, of course, and the size of the game.

In addition, he writes that “everyone” who has spent several years in the business has his “horror story” about management decisions such as “something that is solved because the CEO’s teenage son didn’t like it” or centuries-old teams. people are “stuck in pre-production as they try to figure out what the ‘core loop’ of the game will look like.”

So if the game industry is so worried about budgets, Schreier says they need to focus their “focus” on the mismanagement that can cost everyone’s work and time.