Why Video Games Are Getting So Big

A modern video game can contain enormous environments, detailed characters, complex animation, artificial intelligence, physics, dynamic lighting, cinematic sequences, extensive sound design and online systems — all expected to work together without constantly reminding the player how complicated they are.

That's the important shift. Games have evolved from increasingly detailed pictures into increasingly complicated systems.

The result is impressive, but complexity has a price: more people, more tools, more testing and more time.

Think about walking through a modern open world. A single street can contain buildings, roads, signs, vehicles, pedestrians, lighting, weather, sound, collision systems, animation and background activity.

Then multiply that across an entire city — and then add countryside, interiors, missions, characters and everything the player can interact with.

The player sees one world. The development team sees thousands of connected pieces.

A modern AAA production can bring together programmers, designers, environment artists, character artists, animators, technical artists, writers, audio teams, producers, testers and specialists responsible for localization, accessibility and platform support.

These aren't isolated jobs. They depend on each other.

An environment artist needs the technology to display the environment. Animators need character systems. Designers need gameplay systems. Audio needs the final movement, environment and interaction systems to respond correctly.

A change in one area can create work somewhere else.

A modern game can have dozens of interconnected systems. When one changes, developers often have to check what else it affects.

A new animation can affect collision. A lighting change can affect performance. A world-system change can create bugs somewhere else. A new feature can require additional testing across multiple platforms.

This is one reason modern development isn't simply a straight line from idea to finished product.

It is a cycle of building, testing, fixing, optimizing and rebuilding.

In a linear game, developers can control much more tightly what the player sees and when they see it.

Open-world games remove much of that control.

Players can drive in different directions, enter different locations, approach missions from different angles and interact with systems in unexpected combinations.

That means the world has to be prepared for possibilities the developer cannot completely predict.

Streaming technology, artificial intelligence, world simulation, traffic, pedestrians, physics, environmental effects and countless other systems have to cooperate while the player moves through the world.

Modern game development depends on sophisticated engines and production tools.

Developers need systems for rendering, animation, physics, artificial intelligence, lighting, audio, world building, asset management, debugging and performance optimization.

The technology doesn't just have to make the game look good on a powerful development machine. It has to work on the hardware players actually own.

That makes optimization a major part of the job.

Online games and long-running titles can require continued development after release.

New content has to be created. Servers have to be maintained. Bugs have to be fixed. Systems have to be balanced. New hardware and operating-system requirements may need support.

This changes the economics of a game.

A studio isn't necessarily building something that will be finished once it ships. It may be building a product that has to continue functioning — and giving players reasons to return.

The money doesn't go into one thing.

It can cover years of salaries, technology, outsourcing, motion capture, voice recording, infrastructure, testing, localization, quality assurance and other production requirements.

Marketing and sales can add another major expense on top of development itself. BCG's analysis found that sales and marketing costs had also risen substantially at major publishers.

A huge map doesn't automatically create a better adventure.

More characters don't automatically create better storytelling.

More graphical detail doesn't automatically create better design.

The value of scale depends on what developers do with it.

A smaller game can focus its resources on a particular idea, mechanic or experience. A massive production can do things that smaller teams cannot easily attempt.

They are simply different approaches to making games.

BCG's analysis found that AAA development costs have been rising faster than gaming revenue, while publishers have also been releasing fewer games in some parts of their portfolios. 

BCG Global +1

When a project takes several years and requires hundreds of millions of dollars, delays can become expensive and changes can become difficult.

The pressure isn't simply about making the game technically impressive. Studios also have to determine whether the production model can support the amount of time, staff and money being invested.

Independent developers and smaller studios continue to build games with very different production models.

A smaller team can make different trade-offs: fewer environments, a narrower feature set, a stylized visual direction or a more focused gameplay idea.

That doesn't make the project less ambitious.

It simply means ambition can take different forms.

A game's scale and a game's ambition are not the same thing.

Modern games already combine enormous worlds, sophisticated technology, large teams and years of production into a single interactive experience.

The trend toward larger and more complex productions isn't simply about graphics. It comes from players expecting more systems, more content, more detail and longer-lasting experiences.

But bigger productions also create bigger risks.

As development takes longer and costs more, studios have to decide where additional scale actually improves the experience — and where complexity simply creates more work.

The future of game development may therefore be less about making everything bigger and more about deciding what deserves to be bigger.