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Forums - Gaming - Problems with Huge AAA Gaming Projects - Former Ubisoft Dev Speaks

JEMC on 24 January 2016

I agree with you that this is a consequence of the development of big Triple-A games. But this may be worse in Ubisoft because they make one of those every single year. They are always in a hurry, and that creates problems that studios like Rockstar with GTA or Activision with CoD (they give 3 years to each studio to make one game) simply don't have.



Please excuse my bad English.

Currently gaming on a PC with an i5-4670k@stock (for now), 16Gb RAM 1600 MHz and a GTX 1070

Steam / Live / NNID : jonxiquet    Add me if you want, but I'm a single player gamer.

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WolfpackN64 on 24 January 2016

Look at CD Project RED. Half of the team of GTA V, yet they managed to churn out The Witcher III.



Farsala on 24 January 2016
Intrinsic said:
Naughty dog.

Just shows there is a right and wrong way to do anything

 

A lot of Naughty Dog's top dogs left. The reason could be a plenty but some might have left for this same reason. They felt their vision was not being respected and have gone to other things.



DonFerrari on 24 January 2016

Lack of leadership and empowerement and sense of ownership. Yes I agree those are big problems, but they can use Lean methodology and philosophy to make the process more efficient.



duduspace11 "Well, since we are estimating costs, Pokemon Red/Blue did cost Nintendo about $50m to make back in 1996"

http://gamrconnect.vgchartz.com/post.php?id=8808363

Mr Puggsly: "Hehe, I said good profit. You said big profit. Frankly, not losing money is what I meant by good. Don't get hung up on semantics"

http://gamrconnect.vgchartz.com/post.php?id=9008994

Azzanation: "PS5 wouldn't sold out at launch without scalpers."

DonFerrari on 24 January 2016
JEMC said:

I agree with you that this is a consequence of the development of big Triple-A games. But this may be worse in Ubisoft because they make one of those every single year. They are always in a hurry, and that creates problems that studios like Rockstar with GTA or Activision with CoD (they give 3 years to each studio to make one game) simply don't have.

It wasn't a 1y game per team, but yes they were always overpressured and hushed. Ubisoft promised to improve on it.



duduspace11 "Well, since we are estimating costs, Pokemon Red/Blue did cost Nintendo about $50m to make back in 1996"

http://gamrconnect.vgchartz.com/post.php?id=8808363

Mr Puggsly: "Hehe, I said good profit. You said big profit. Frankly, not losing money is what I meant by good. Don't get hung up on semantics"

http://gamrconnect.vgchartz.com/post.php?id=9008994

Azzanation: "PS5 wouldn't sold out at launch without scalpers."

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JEMC on 24 January 2016
DonFerrari said:
JEMC said:

I agree with you that this is a consequence of the development of big Triple-A games. But this may be worse in Ubisoft because they make one of those every single year. They are always in a hurry, and that creates problems that studios like Rockstar with GTA or Activision with CoD (they give 3 years to each studio to make one game) simply don't have.

It wasn't a 1y game per team, but yes they were always overpressured and hushed. Ubisoft promised to improve on it.

Looking at Ubisoft Montreal (which is huge with +2,700 employees): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ubisoft_Montreal#2009.E2.80.93present

they have been involved in every single Assassins Creed game.

And the same goes for Ubisoft Quebec and Ubisoft Romania, for example.



Please excuse my bad English.

Currently gaming on a PC with an i5-4670k@stock (for now), 16Gb RAM 1600 MHz and a GTX 1070

Steam / Live / NNID : jonxiquet    Add me if you want, but I'm a single player gamer.

ReimTime on 24 January 2016
JEMC said:

I agree with you that this is a consequence of the development of big Triple-A games. But this may be worse in Ubisoft because they make one of those every single year. They are always in a hurry, and that creates problems that studios like Rockstar with GTA or Activision with CoD (they give 3 years to each studio to make one game) simply don't have.

 

Another reason why that rumor of them ditching the annual release and revamping the franchise was such great news for me. But will it really make a difference if the communication continues to suck?



#1 Amb-ass-ador

barneystinson69 on 24 January 2016

Teams should be smaller, and generally in the same area. AAA developers are spending way too much making games, when they can't afford it. CD Projekt red was able to make The Witcher 3 for like 1/5 the cost of GTA 5, and it was a great game and sold extremely well!



Made a bet with LipeJJ and HylianYoshi that the XB1 will reach 30 million before Wii U reaches 15 million. Loser has to get avatar picked by winner for 6 months (or if I lose, either 6 months avatar control for both Lipe and Hylian, or my patrick avatar comes back forever).

ReimTime on 24 January 2016
barneystinson69 said:

Teams should be smaller, and generally in the same area. AAA developers are spending way too much making games, when they can't afford it. CD Projekt red was able to make The Witcher 3 for like 1/5 the cost of GTA 5, and it was a great game and sold extremely well!

 

GTA5 also had a ridiculous advertising budget AFAIK, but that's beside the point. CDPR proved it was possible indeed. Now what do you think CDPR did correctly that Ubisoft has failed to accomplish?



#1 Amb-ass-ador

barneystinson69 on 24 January 2016
ReimTime said:
barneystinson69 said:

Teams should be smaller, and generally in the same area. AAA developers are spending way too much making games, when they can't afford it. CD Projekt red was able to make The Witcher 3 for like 1/5 the cost of GTA 5, and it was a great game and sold extremely well!

 

GTA5 also had a ridiculous advertising budget AFAIK, but that's beside the point. CDPR proved it was possible indeed. Now what do you think CDPR did correctly that Ubisoft has failed to accomplish?

Well I didn't look much into it, but they were an efficent team, and I think most of the development was done in Warsaw itself. Also, game development was 3 years instead of 5 for GTA 5 (it shouldn't take that long), and the team was less than 1/2 the size.





Made a bet with LipeJJ and HylianYoshi that the XB1 will reach 30 million before Wii U reaches 15 million. Loser has to get avatar picked by winner for 6 months (or if I lose, either 6 months avatar control for both Lipe and Hylian, or my patrick avatar comes back forever).