[aprilthird2021]

I do wonder if a studio that made a lot of smaller games with less technical specs but spent all the money in fun gameplay design and character design and stories would outcompete major AAA game studios.

I think I'm just describing mobile game studios pre-gachafication

[alex43578]

I think you’re also describing the indie/lower-budget scene that does very well on Steam. There’s plenty of games that break out via streaming, for instance.

[everdrive]

It's very interesting. I played that new-ish Marvel: Cosmic Invasion game and recently played Fight 'N Rage. I believe both are built in the exact same game engine. Fight 'N Rage, which is undoubtedly the better of the two games (although both are quite fun) had a tiny roster. I think there was a single primary developer, and then one guy did the music and maybe 1-2 other people helped with things. The Marvel game was made by a "real" studio and had tens (hundreds?) of staff to build what was effectively a slightly lower quality game. (although the Marvel game had a much smaller staff than anything like a modern AAA release.) Famously, Doom and Quake were made by quite small teams.

I don't know what the answer is, but there just seems to be unavoidable bloat all around. Staff, cost, complexity, system requirements, etc.

[BigTTYGothGF]

> Doom and Quake were made by quite small teams

Doom came out in 1993, all teams were "small" by 2026 standards.

[dashmeet]

Isn’t this Nintendo? Pretty sure they’ve proven that you don’t need the latest in graphics (always a generation behind) to make engaging games.

[BigTTYGothGF]

What do you mean by "outcompete"? There've been some extremely successful small-studio games recently (the one that comes to mind is Silksong, which dropped last September)

[trial3]

this is sorta the Blumhouse model