Why Big Game Companies Don't Make Small Games

One day you'll get that $10 mil sponsor, I believe in you

Not the Raid Shadow Legends bait 😂

It’s like the Titanic, why hit a million small ice cubes when you can just hit one big iceberg

I hope anyone who's watching these videos and going "wow, Jason Schreier is a really thoughtful and nuanced voice" also consider checking out his podcast, Triple Click! His co-hosts are equally thoughtful and intelligent while bringing their own unique backgrounds and perspectives, and you'll get more on this kind of in-depth commentary (they recently did a great deep dive into the rising costs of the hobby) along with a lot more casual and fun discussions on recent media they've been enjoying (mostly, but not just, video games).

One time, my studio was in talks with a big German publisher, and despite them being interested enough to invite us to a meeting in person, they ultimately decided that our game was too small for them. This came after downsizing our project for months because the price point drove many other publishers away. Being an independent developer sure feels like chasing specters.

Honestly this was the ONE question I could not answer for the past 5-10 years. Another banger but this one is a special banger for me

I like how every time I hear a new story about Bobby Kotick it makes me think even less of him (and I didn't think that was possible).

"One take Schreier here" brings joy to me every time

Kotick really is the platonic ideal of the "let's milk every last cent from every franchise and drive it into the ground" business executive. Can't create anything, can't provide an environment where creation is possible, but if you want wealth extraction and rent seeking by God he's your man.

It's such a short-sighted perspective. While you paint yourself into a corner of ride or die the same property into the ground, others or going to innovate and eventually steal your lunch. What else are windfall profits for other than affording you the superpower of being able to innovate? Gotta diversify your portfolio. Engagement can also be a huge red herring and another short-sighted priority. It's possible for people to be highly engaged by insidious incentives but also unhappy with the product leading to corrosion of brand reputation over time.

that last bit is so true it hurts. nobody knew people wanted five nights at freddy's, nobody knew people wanted balatro, nobody knew people wanted meccha chameleon or lethal company or even DOTA for that matter. people don't know what they want until they get it, chasing trends will almost never get you THE game and is probably why AAA gaming is rotting away, budgets are so inflated that nobody is willing to risk anything on something unknown which is how these huge companies made it in the first place. they're bailing water with a spoon because they're afraid the bucket might have a hole in it

I think what these videos have taught me is that big business makes no sense.

Jason Schreier: brought to you by Among Us

ive worked in live service for 8+ years and have seen countless talented, creative devs be treated essentially as coal-shovelers whose sole purpose is to keep content furnaces going - there's genuinely and literally no room in these types of models for studios to work on anything BUT the insatiable engines of live service titles. the longer i work in the industry the harder it is to imagine how any of the big companies are going to be able to make ANY new/innovative games that aren't just the 150th instalment of an existing IP or some such bullshit. it feels redundant to even say at this point but the industry's obsession with live service models specifically is an honest to god death march...those of us who keep these live service demon engines alive see it with the insane clarity of like...cosmic horror protagonists LMAO

Nintendo made Rhythm Heaven and Tomodachi Life this year. They made Drag × Drive and the Welcome Tour last year. Those are all pretty small games.

All the biggest franchises started out as small or midbudget games made to take a crack at the market and see what sticks. All the big players do the same "we only release billion dollar megahits" thing, but nobody makes a billion dollar megahit by saying "alright fellas, lets sit down and make a billion dollar megahit" and so they just fail over and over and spend hundreds of millions on projects that never see the light of day. Maybe there are some genuine breakout hits in the roster of canned incubation projects that were never even announced, but we'll never know

This is why Pentiment was so special to me. It was an indie game but with Obsidian/Xbox heading it. Gorgeous visuals and a fun story. I wish there were 100 more Pentiment style games and 100 less looter shooters, but that's just me.

Jason - I’d love to hear your perspective on what Ubisoft did in the mid 2010s related to this topic; that is: providing their developers a ‘break’ from Assassin’s Creed and Far Cry by allowing them to incubate/develop Grow Home, Valiant Hearts, and Child of Light.

The infinite chase for higher profits is unsustainable in the long run, and it will inevitably destroy these companies

I was with EA for 5 years before getting laid off recently and had this discussion with my director multiple times. The words we hear are always "we're going to focus on our big known franchises instead of unknown titles", and my response is "well a game only becomes big if you nurture it from a small title", instead of just immediately spending 100, 150+ million on an unknown IP out of nowhere like that Immortals of Aveum game. The talks I had weren't even just about ROI, because multiple times i was just told "well if the game makes 20, 30 million in profit, that kinda doesn't really even move the needle at a multi-billion dollar company that does Apex, Fifa, Madden, etc." But if you had like 5-10 games each making 20-30 million on a 5, 10 million budget, thats still a massive return. Once the company gets to a certain point, they just can't even fathom what it was like working at a lower budget and level, it's like they just completely lose all the knowledge they built to get to that point and replace it with the new stuff.