They no longer have to make and ship cartridges to distribute them. They just let you download said game. The margins are insanely large. Add in they not longer subsidize consoles and release a new one every few years... yea. also the technology isn't improving that much as we have reached a pretty big limit on screen size etc. No more big innovation to make graphics look perfect- it is just art style now and most of the games reuse what works.
I really want to see what "margin" you are specifically thinking of.
AAA game dev is one of the highest risk industries in the world. Games generate losses constantly. 2023 and 24 saw about 50'000 layoffs across the industry. With 1500 more in 2025.
One of the biggest game publishers in the world is on the brink of shuttering.
So please, be specific. What margins?
Edit: Go figure, the person I responded to mentioned nothing about "margins" and instead claimed "We have better tools, AI and Unreal Engine so games are easy and cheap to make now". What a fucking moron.
Losses due to better tools making game development easier. It wasn't unique to the gaming sector- everywhere the tech industry experienced layoffs. Things are getting better automated. Nintendo for 100% sure isn't struggling when even their bad games sell so well.
Edit: Lol guy posted and blocked, somehow thinks software development is a continuous process of reinventing the wheel. Libraries get more features, tools are made to make things easier. Whether a company reinvests that time into adding new features is up to the company, but things are getting more and more automated. Software engineers check google before creating something from the ground up.
Game development is not easier, and definitely not automated in the slightest.
In fact, methodology has only become harder over the last decade. Every new AI or procedural tool baked into programs like Painter3D, Houdini or Zbrush is half useful on implementation, and you have to learn 5 new optimization techniques to stay ahead.
Please take your head out your ass and clean the shit out of your eyes.
Not easier... sure thats why they rent game engines. Totally not to save costs and totally not convenient to have people trained from one project to the next with minimized learning curve. Totally useless features that would be faster and easier to make by hand or after developing an engine to then do the same thing.
As someone with unreal training if anything it makes game dev harder for most projects because it's so bloated. One of the biggest issues with modern unreal games is optimization, because the engine insists on using super processor heavy tools for things like lighting and doesn't let you turn individual features off. It's either you leave everything enabled or disabled with little wiggle room in-between.
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u/Loud_Interview4681 1d ago edited 1d ago
They no longer have to make and ship cartridges to distribute them. They just let you download said game. The margins are insanely large. Add in they not longer subsidize consoles and release a new one every few years... yea. also the technology isn't improving that much as we have reached a pretty big limit on screen size etc. No more big innovation to make graphics look perfect- it is just art style now and most of the games reuse what works.