Ask a Game Dev

MAY 29, 2025

Indie games aren't being held back by AAA games right now, they're held back by the natural size limit of their own audiences and their ability to market themselves to players. The reason that AAA games continue to be made is because there's a significant market for them. I don't think that will happen.

AAA

Game Wisdom

NOVEMBER 8, 2024

Why You Can’t Objectively Build Great Games Josh Bycer josh@game-wisdom.com I was reading a piece over on Game Developer that gave me pause for a second about whether this is what game design at the AAA level is about now — focusing on analytics and trying to “math” the perfect … The post Why You Can’t Objectively (..)

Build

iXie gaming

APRIL 23, 2025

For studios aiming to build not just games, but game-driven businesses, these three pillars are no longer optional. QA as a Strategic Investment in Player Retention and Brand Equity Many developers still consider quality assurance a late-stage cleanup process. These insights guide future development and marketing priorities.

Art

Deconstructor of Fun

NOVEMBER 4, 2024

Finally, we concentrated exclusively on the gaming industry. While this includes companies beyond game development — such as platforms, tech solutions, and web3 startups — all the entities in our study operate within the gaming sector. 4 mobile games developers, founded mainly by former King’s employees. —

Mobile

iXie gaming

JULY 11, 2025

From indie experiments to AAA trailblazers, studios are increasingly leveraging hybrid visual styles to differentiate their games, optimize pipelines, and tell richer, more engaging stories. This approach empowers developers to craft distinct visual styles, optimize resources, and scale efficiently.

Art

iXie gaming

AUGUST 8, 2025

In this guide, we’ll pull back the curtain, taking you on a journey from fleeting concept sketches to polished 3D models, revealing why unwavering production discipline is the cornerstone of excellence in modern game development.

Art

Ask a Game Dev

NOVEMBER 13, 2024

For your first question about what kind of non-creation teams there are: Game dev studios typically have internal support teams - back end, build, IT, user research, etc. that are primarily there to support game development and content creation efforts.

Dev

Ask a Game Dev

JULY 30, 2025

Beyond Visual Studio, there are a few common software tools we use. We use Jira pretty as our task-tracking tool for bugs and tasks - I've used it at multiple studios now, though it isn't as ubiquitous as Visual Studio. I've seen competitors like Trello and Hansoft used at various studios as well. We usually use Perforce for our asset versioning.

Dev

iXie gaming

MAY 29, 2025

Along the way, well show you how a partner like iXie Gaming helps you not only survive the cross-platform gauntlet but win it. Cross-Platform as the Norm For todays game developers, launching on a single platform often means leaving reach and revenue untapped. Use checklists and playbooks from past successful submissions.

Cross platform

iXie gaming

MARCH 2, 2025

While 3D dominates modern game development, 2.5D This technique isnt just a nostalgic throwback; its a strategic design choice that allows developers to craft visually striking, performance-efficient, and highly engaging experiences. From indie studios to AAA developers, 2.5D Development While 2.5D

Art

Ask a Game Dev

JULY 29, 2025

This is totally fine if we're targeting PS3 as an exclusive title, but it's not very resource-efficient if we're aiming at the roughly 40/40/20 split between PS3/X360/PC that most multiplatform AAA games saw at the time. We only have so many graphics engineers (some of the most expensive and sought-after roles in the game industry!)

Console

AWS Games

AUGUST 7, 2025

Proton achieves this by translating Windows API calls, including graphics and input, to their Linux equivalents, allowing developers to leverage Linux servers for workloads previously limited to Windows. Proton is a compatibility layer that enables Windows executables to run on Linux-based operating systems.

Graphics

GamesIndustry.biz

AUGUST 5, 2025

." The long-awaited first games from ProbablyMonsters indicate a surprise change of tack Former Bungie head Harold Ryan founded ProbablyMonsters in 2016 with the aim of transforming AAA development – but a lot has changed since then Image credit: ProbablyMonsters Feature by Lewis Packwood Features Editor Published on Aug.

Co-op

Deconstructor of Fun

JUNE 10, 2025

Written by Michail Katkoff , a a battle-tested game industry veteran who’s seen every production model—and now argues that co-development is the only one that scales. I believe the same quiet revolution has been happening in game development for years in our industry as well. And for many developers, it still is this way.

Development

Starloop Studios

NOVEMBER 1, 2024

Unity game engine is one of the gaming industry’s premier game engines, used by development studios for everything from small-scale independent games to AAA titles. The post The Complete Guide to Unity Game Engine appeared first on Starloop Studios.

Game Engine

Game Dev Unchained

JANUARY 16, 2025

Recently, I caught up with my old friend Jordan Smith to talk about where things stand and what the future looks like for game developers like us. Mass Layoffs: A Brutal Year for Developers One of the biggest topics on our minds was the wave of layoffs that hit the industry in 2024. ” Hes not wrong. The job is just gone.

AI

Game Development News

AUGUST 7, 2025

Production company Lyrical Media has launched Lyrical Games, a new, privately funded game publisher with a commitment to empowering creators of high-quality indie games. Lyrical Games has three titles in production to date. These include a new title from Blackbird Interactive, the creators of Hardspace: Shipbreaker.

Media

Game Developer

SEPTEMBER 9, 2024

This article covers five key aspects—production, community, development, storytelling, and updates—valuable for both indie and AAA game developers.

AAA

PreMortem.Games

APRIL 17, 2023

Fresh out of school Kaighen Finley started his own web & game development company Team iNtuition. Just to be on the safe side he mainly focused on web development, but his heart was not in it. It helps that designing artistic, digital gaming experiences and special powers is basically my dream work.”

Game Developer

Mircosoft Game Dev

JANUARY 15, 2023

The features offered are also a lot more reminiscent of AAA games, such as far more material options and advanced visual effects (including circle DOF , volumetric fog, AMD FSR, etc.). Often developers need to implement rendering techniques, post processing effects, etc. Rendering is significantly more efficient in Godot 4.0,

AAA

GamesIndustry.biz

AUGUST 20, 2024

Virtuos has acquired British indie game developer, Third Kind Games. Virtuos says the acquisition will enhance its "AAA co-development capabilities and establish a new foothold for Virtuos in the UK."

Indy

GamesIndustry.biz

MARCH 18, 2024

A new AAA studio has launched, composed of industry veterans from EA, Sony, Blizzard, Disney, Apple, and Google. Founded in October 2023, Muddy Robot Games is led by former International Game Developers Association president Chris Hood.

AAA

GamesIndustry.biz

MARCH 7, 2024

It’s no secret that game development has seen a massive expansion in scope in recent years. What would have once taken a development team three or four years to make now requires much more people, and four to six years to ship.

AAA

GamesIndustry.biz

APRIL 20, 2023

PlayStation has agreed to acquire Firewalk Studios, the AAA multiplayer developer that is working on a live service game for PS5 and PC. If the name sounds familiar, it's because Sony had already announced it would be publishing Firewalk's first game back in April 2021.

AAA

GamesIndustry.biz

FEBRUARY 22, 2024

Sign up for the GI Daily here to get the biggest news straight to your inbox A team of game developers who have worked on various AAA titles such as Mass Effect, The Witcher, and Doom Eternal have unveiled Fun Dog Studios. The studio is a minority-led and completely employee-owned game developer. Read more

Studios

GamesIndustry.biz

OCTOBER 4, 2023

It feels like alchemy when considering the most recent port of the game to a handheld device was the cloud version on Nintendo Switch.

Mobile

Starloop Studios

NOVEMBER 24, 2022

The game development pipeline is a lengthy process. In our experience working on everything from AAA titles to smaller-scale projects, a common thread are the stages of game development.

Game Development

Starloop Studios

AUGUST 17, 2023

AAA game development is a complex process that requires well-oiled teamwork from an experienced team. The AAA game development process is an intersection of art, technical skills, writing, and many more disciplines.

AAA

Game Refinery

MAY 4, 2023

In the past, hybridization was mainly seen in 4X strategy games that merged with puzzle and idle RPG mechanics , but in recent months this phenomenon has spread to titles of all shapes and sizes across the market – not just the hybrid-casual genre. The narrative is a vital part of the drive toward in-game progression.

Mobile Gaming

GamesIndustry.biz

JUNE 18, 2024

It was back in 2020 when Shawn Layden began sounding the alarm around rising game development costs. Now, four years later, we have caught up with Layden as part of our new GI Sprint series of video, podcasts and articles, which is all around lowering the cost of game development. Read more

AAA

GamesIndustry.biz

MARCH 9, 2024

New AAA game developer Deviation Games is closing, the studio announced. It was formed in 2020 by Jason Blundell and Dave Anthony, two development veterans best known for the Call of Duty: Black Ops franchise. But the project hit challenges. But the project hit challenges.

AAA

AWS Games

MARCH 27, 2024

Generative artificial intelligence (AI) is rapidly transforming industries, a seismic shift that was certainly felt at the 2024 Game Developer Conference (GDC) held last week in San Francisco at the Moscone Convention Center. Check it out , and follow the recap below for a full rundown of AWS for Games activities at GDC 2024.

AI

Juego Studio

FEBRUARY 12, 2024

In the simplest form, AAA games have a high development and marketing budget. For avid gamers, subtle nuances beyond the gameplay matter more than anything else. The graphics quality, sound effects, and framerate all influence the gamer’s psyche.

AAA

GamesIndustry.biz

JANUARY 10, 2023

Some of the leaders behind the Forza Horizon series have formed a new AAA games studio in Leamington Spa called Maverick Games. The team is led by studio head and creative director Mike Brown, who was previously the creative director on the Forza Horizon franchise.

AAA

PreMortem.Games

DECEMBER 15, 2023

Now that the games industry has witnessed more than 9.000 layoffs this year, we have to seriously reconsider how the educational system is operating. Do we really need tons of new AAA production workers to come into the industry every year? All screenshots are taken from the upcoming game Bulwark: Falconeer Chronicles by Tomas Sala.

Education

GamesIndustry.biz

JANUARY 11, 2023

Based in Madrid and Manila, Secret 6 is outsourcing firm that provides 3D and 2D art, QA services, and full game development support. It has worked on a wider range of titles, from AAA blockbusters like The Last of Us: Part 2 and Cyberpunk 2077 to mobile hits such as Episode and Monster Train. Read more.

AAA

GamesIndustry.biz

DECEMBER 22, 2023

As an AAA VR game developer, we are just not able to justify the expense needed going forward," the studio said. "[We] The Los Angeles-based studio shared a statement on social media , citing a "lack of support for VR within the industry" as the main reason for closing its doors. "As

Studios