I don’t believe that gameplay will ever look like fancy prerendered cutscenes because gameplay has certain needs that cutscenes do not, and cutscenes have certain needs that gameplay does not. Here’s what I mean. When you’re watching a cinematic in a g…
Hi, I just happened on your blog through a google search, as I am desperately trying to learn about the game’s industry scenes and where to go for them. I really want to get involved with the game’s industry and get into game design. I also want to pair that with becoming involved with a game industry community. Unfortunately, I am not sure where the bulk of the industry scenes are. I live in California (San Diego area). My question is: where is the industry scene, and where in SD can I find it?
You can try using [GameDevMap] and looking in your area. The website is updated fairly frequently (last update as of this posting was Feb 16th, 2025) and it collects the various developers, publishers, mobile, online, and gaming-adjacent companies acro…
If “live service” as a term is being used incorrectly by the general public, then what is the PROPER term? Or is there none, and so people will continue to use “live service” as the colloquial for whatever it is specifically that publishers have been pushing to produce, like what Destiny 1 & 2, Helldivers 2, Concord, Overwatch 2, Marvel Rivals, PoE 1 &2, Warframe, even Fortnight and Rocket League, etc etc are? the games where things are constantly changing rather than having more spaced out incremental updates of a mostly static game, and often have a lot of microtransactions and/or some sort of multiplayer component? Because there always seems to be some sort of extra commitment to these games that other games do not have. As in, a company makes a great non-“live service” game and can support it no problem for at least a year after release with patches and DLCs, but then the studio falls apart when they try to work on what the general public calls a “live service” game.
Those are «lifestyle games». The main thing you consider is that it’s a game you play day in and day out for years — it’s part of your lifestyle. Monster Hunter Wilds, Street Fighter 6, Rainbow Six Siege, Apex Legends, League of Legends, Roblox, any MM…
By your definition of “live service”, that is, a game with post-launch updates with both free and paid DLC, wouldn’t that mean that ALL games with post-launch support are “live-service” games? Because to the general player, there IS a difference between games like Overwatch/2 or Fortnight which are “live service” games, and Super Smash Bros Ultimate which was not “live service” in the same way that the other games are, despite getting regular character drops/dlcs and some patches.
Yes, they are all live service games. As long as the product is out in public and actively being supported by developers, to us it is a live service game. This is one of those disconnects between what the public thinks the term means and what the devel…
Two part question. 1) Where does a decision like taking DA4 from single player to live service back to single player most likely come from? Do studio leads make that kind of call, or project leads? Or is it a publisher-side “mandate” based on market trends? 2) Rebooting like that must come with significant costs given all the “wasted” dev work, so what needs to happen to make them that confident that staying on course will result in smaller returns than starting over?
I think you’ve misunderstood the «single player vs live service» thing. Live services exist for single player game — any game with regular content updates and patching is a live service. Those content updates and patches are the «service» part — we hav…
Why did SWTOR get shuffled to a different developer if it was apparently Bioware’s most steady source of income for the better part of the last decade?
SWTOR wasn’t really treated as a true «Bioware» project for the longest time. First, a little history. The original Bioware studio in Edmonton was the one responsible for the «modern» Bioware titles — Neverwinter, Jade Empire, Dragon Age, and Mass Effe…
How much executive meddling occurs in the game industry and development cycles?
There’s practically never executive meddling in indie games because there are practically no executives involved. In AAA games, the vast majority of executive meddling comes in only one situation — when the development process for a game goes off the r…
Hello! I currently work as an Assistant Narrative Designer for a tiny studio developing a live ops/free-to-play mobile visual novel. I’m learning a lot about monetization points and player retention strategies, but I’d like to eventually transition to bigger studios working in paid games (my personal interests lie in RPGs and simulators a la Stardew Valley.) Are the skills I’m learning transferrable to these fields of work? I worry I’m learning so much and yet it won’t actually help me. Ty!
Player retention and monetization strategies are important knowledge to learn. If studios don’t do these things well, then they’ll do them badly. That’s a situation where everyone loses. Most game studios don’t have the option of firing and forgetting …
Hi, Veilguard dev here. Your analysis of the “”“restructuring”“” is pretty spot on. One small clarification: not doing DLC wasn’t a game team decision, it was an executive or business decision. A lot of us were begging to do DLC and longer term support.
My sympathies for your situation. I’m not surprised at all. I’ve always been a proponent of post-launch game support. DLC and continued support is a great training ground for juniors and mid-levels to level up their skills on lower-stakes content and f…
How would tariffs on Mexico and Canada impact the videogame industry?
I am not particularly worried about tariffs. Primarily, tariffs are only applied when importing physical goods — video games are heavily distributed digitally now. If you really still want physical media, then the proposed Mexican tariffs might affect …