Netflix closes its only AAA game studio
Game Developer
OCTOBER 22, 2024
The Southern Californian developer was around for less than two years.
AAA Game Developer Studios 
5 things to learn from AAA studios
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.
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New AAA studio Muddy Robot launches
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.
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Godot for AA/AAA game development - What's missing?
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.). Is solving these problems enough for Godot to become a top AA / AAA game engine? Rendering is significantly more efficient in Godot 4.0,
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Firewall studio First Contact shuts down
GamesIndustry.biz
DECEMBER 22, 2023
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 As an AAA VR game developer, we are just not able to justify the expense needed going forward," the studio said. "[We]
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Playground Games leaders form new AAA studio Maverick Games
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. Running the studio itself is COO Harinder Sangha.
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Three Minutes to Eight developer Chaosmonger Studio “Multiple stories moving parallel”
PreMortem.Games
OCTOBER 27, 2023
Chaosmonger Studios , based in Tallinn, Estonia, is a multimedia production company specializing in everything from documentaries, science fiction films and animations to music video, graphic design and video games. His latest game Three Minutes to Eight is a real tour de force, both in storytelling and visual flair.
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Developer cohort unveils Fun Dog Studios
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.
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EA reveals Cliffhanger Games, the new studio working on a Black Panther game
GamesIndustry.biz
JULY 10, 2023
The AAA developer is based in Seattle, and it's creating an original third-person single player game based on Marvel's Black Panther franchise. It follows news that EA's Motive studio is creating a game based on the Iron Man IP.
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PlayStation to acquire AAA multiplayer developer Firewalk Studios
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.
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The Top 10 Popular VR Game Development Tools
Logic Simplified
NOVEMBER 7, 2024
Similarly, in a game development setup, various virtual reality tools have become easily accessible to both creators and consumers to create and encounter immersive experiences. 10 Popular VR Game Development Tools There are a range of tools and frameworks that are being used for VR game development projects.
Solo developer Kaighen Finley: “It’s easy to lose myself in game development”
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. Initially, I wanted to build games, but invested my eggs in web development first because I thought I was being pragmatic.
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Design review of Redfall by Arkane Studios Austin
Radiator Blog
JUNE 2, 2023
If Microsoft had given them another 6-12 months to truly polish everything, then it maybe would've been a more solid OK game. Anyway I didn't mind the incompleteness so much because I was playing less for fun, and more "for work", as a first person game developer. It's these small moments and details that stand out.
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PlayStation-backed Deviation Games closes
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.
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Why external and distributed development is the future of AAA games
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. Read more
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Battlefield leaders form new shooter studio Time To Kill Games
GamesIndustry.biz
MAY 23, 2023
Former EA DICE leaders have reunited to form Time To Kill Games, a new AAA studio based in Stockholm, Sweden. The developer is led by Lars Gustavsson, who up until November last year, ran the Battlefield series as creative director at EA DICE. It’s working on a new shooter built using Unreal Engine.
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ProbablyMonsters unveils Hidden Grove
GamesIndustry.biz
APRIL 9, 2024
Given the widespread contractions the industry has seen in the past year and ProbablyMonsters' own willingness to part ways with Firewalk, it's interesting to see the company seemingly return to growing its development footprint, but Ryan tells GamesIndustry.biz it's far from unexpected.
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AWS to showcase tools for breakthrough gaming experiences at GDC 2025
AWS Games
MARCH 13, 2025
Experience first-hand how Amazon Web Services (AWS) for Games helps build breakthrough gaming experiences at the Game Developers Conference (GDC), March 17-21, 2025 at the Moscone Center in San Francisco. Meet with AWS for Games experts to learn about the transformational power of generative AI and cloud game development.
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Mastering the Art of AAA Game Development: Our Approach
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.
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Top AAA Game Companies in Europe
Juego Studio
DECEMBER 15, 2024
The leading players in the video game industry have consistently been AAA game companies. These major development firms establish innovation, creativity, and player engagement standards.
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The 7 Stages of Game Development
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.
AWS for Games debuts Guide to Generative AI for Game Developers, and more at GDC 2024
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.
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Former EA devs' Simply Sweet Games aims to "raise the bar for the entire industry"
GamesIndustry.biz
MARCH 7, 2024
Industry veterans Tina Merry and Carina Kom have formed a new studio, Simply Sweet Games. Headquartered in British Columbia, Canada, Simply Sweet Games is a fully remote studio that is currently developing its inaugural mobile title – the roguelike word puzzle Criss Cross Castles.
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The Complete Guide to Unity Game Engine
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.
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How to Create a Game-Ready AAA asset
Logic Simplified
AUGUST 5, 2024
At Logic Simplified , a leading game development company , we created an FPS game Mr. 45. This is the workflow for creating a AAA model of an AK-47, using Maya, Substance Designer, Substance Painter and Marmoset. Seasoned gaming studios like ours love Maya for its features and flexibility.
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The five pillars of emergent gameplay
GamesIndustry.biz
NOVEMBER 28, 2023
Over the past twenty years, the scope, budget and audience expectations of games have inflated, and smaller studios are left seemingly locked in a cycle of diminishing returns on increasingly ambitious productions. Thrilling as a solo ten-hour-long campaign can be, linear content is expensive to produce.
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Staying Strong in the Game with Jordan Smith
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. Jordan: “We ended up going here to the East Coast, and there was a studio called Hi-Rez Studios. And we were doing they were doing GaaS (Games as a Service) games.
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The Art of 2.5D: How It’s Redefining Game Design
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 merges the best of both worlds.
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What are AAA Games and Mobile Games?
iXie gaming
FEBRUARY 17, 2023
With the rise of the gaming industry, two distinct categories of games have emerged: AAA games and mobile games. These games offer different gaming experiences, target different audiences, and have unique testing requirements for game QA. Can Mobile Games Be AAA?
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Gavin Raeburn announces new AAA studio Lighthouse Games
Game Development News
MARCH 28, 2023
Playground Games’ founder and former studio head Gavin Raeburn has announced that he has set up a new game development studio
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sorry this is 2 questions in 1 on very different topics haha. but im not a game dev nor am i likely to get the skills in game dev- i am very in marketing & analytics though as well as a mix of other stuff. would you know if, size of studio asides, do aa/aaa studios or publishers have good sized non game dev teams? i really want to get involved in the creatives industry (wether it be games or something like shows) outside of direct creation but i dont know what the market for that is like, especially as someone in the global south. the 2nd unrelated thing is DATV has a weird (?) save limit on console. pc has 100 saves unli characters, but console is currently hard capped at 3 characters. would you have any ideas or insights as to why that might be the limit they chose?
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.
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Sony Interactive Entertainment’s PlayStation Studios division has acquired Firewalk Studios
Game Development News
APRIL 21, 2023
PlayStation Studios has acquired AAA multiplayer game developer Firewalk Studios
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Untold Stories of ex-Activision Blizzard King’s Founders
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. Ex-Riot studios received some of the highest checks, peaking at $15.8m
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How to Seamlessly Integrate Stories Into AAA Console Gameplay
Starloop Studios
AUGUST 29, 2023
With AAA console game developers focusing on ensuring their games are more immersive than ever, intersecting gameplay and narrative has never been more crucial. Though the vast majority of games have a story, very few of them allow for meaningful gameplay and story integration.
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How VFX Streamlines Player Experience
Starloop Studios
JANUARY 12, 2023
Visual effects in modern gaming can be a transformative process that brings a title’s presentation and immersion to the next level. It has become an integral part of game development, from small-scale indie gems to AAA blockbusters.
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Is classic game porting/remastering becoming its own specialization? What I mean is, of course it’s happening more these days, so/but is space growing to be someone who specializes in these projects? Or is it still niche enough that the small number of teams/staff who do it will continue to do it?
Ask a Game Dev
SEPTEMBER 30, 2024
Here's the main issue - game development is expensive. AAA studios are expensive and cost a lot to run, assigning a AAA studio a remake/port project is not really worth it when compared to the estimated return on investment. The external studio gets to do that, and often has their own stuff in place already.
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AAA Game Development: Creating Next-Generation Games
Starloop Studios
MAY 4, 2023
With every new console generation comes the anticipation of next-gen games and the experiences they can bring to players. The arrival of the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X and S was met with similar excitement and curiosity as to what the new console generation would bring. At Magic Media, we are well-versed in [.]
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GTC 21: Top 5 Game Development Technical Sessions
Nvidia
MARCH 25, 2021
Check out our top sessions below for those working in the gaming industry: Ray Tracing in Cyberpunk 2077 Learn how ray tracing was used to create the visuals in the game, and how the developers at CD Projekt RED used extensive ray tracing techniques to bring the bustling Night City to life.
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Omeda Studios swaps out ‘Predecessor’ backend in less than five months using Amazon GameLift and Pragma
AWS Games
MAY 14, 2024
It’s hard to overstate the dedication of Omeda Studios developers working on the multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) game “Predecessor.” Its core team has developed the game since 2018, even though the studio was officially formed in 2020. We also knew we could trust GameLift with such a tight timeline.”
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A bit of a different question, but what does IT do in AAA? I feel like most game developers are pretty tech savvy.
Ask a Game Dev
JULY 8, 2024
While it's true that many game developers are tech savvy, there's more to IT than just keeping a workstation running. IT at game companies does the same thing that IT does at any tech company - they set up, maintain, and make decisions about tech solutions for an organization.
The Best 3D Art Outsourcing Studios in the Industry
iXie gaming
JANUARY 11, 2023
A solid game outsourcing partnership is reason enough to see your project as 50% complete. In a competitive game, players’ initial focus is on the visual component. Working with an established game art outsourcing firm with a solid track record alleviates any worry about deadlines or allocating internal resources.
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The joy of intergalactic journalism in Times & Galaxy by Copychaser Games
PreMortem.Games
MAY 17, 2024
Before I got into game development, I was a crime reporter at a daily newspaper”, says Ben Gelinas , creative director on Times & Galaxy and Copychaser Games’ founder. Times & Galaxy essentially mashes up my previous life in journalism with my current work in game dev.
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Airship Interactive takes centre stage as the Headline Sponsor for Women in Games Awards 2024.
Game Development News
AUGUST 14, 2024
The MCV/Develop Women in Games Awards has announced that Airship Interactive is the headline sponsor for the 2024 event. Airship offer full end-to-end games art and implementation services to leading international game developers and AAA studios.
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Introducing AWS GameTime – a new AWS Twitch show
AWS Games
MAY 12, 2023
AWS GameTime is for gamers and budding game developers who want to go “behind-the-scenes” and learn how their favorite gaming experiences are made on AWS. The livestream is dedicated to showcasing game developers, playing their games and sharing their stories and expertise from the video game industry.
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