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Amazon, Google and why you can't just invent a blockbusting games developer
(www.theguardian.com)
this post was submitted on 14 Apr 2024
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What this article suggests to me is that the big companies went wrong mainly in recruiting, probably by offering good salaries and work life balance to people used to impressing generic authority figures.
The idea that non-game software doesn't involve creativity or spit balling or iteration is ridiculous. But from what I've seen it does involve a lot more waiting for consensus and thinking too far down the road, which are political activities aimed at being right (as measured by vice presidents) rather than productive activities aimed at getting something done or making something cool (as measured by your own name in credits of a completed work offered to the public).
I'm not sure why big company engineers don't just start coding while their bosses are dithering about, but they don't, and my pop psych guess is that they've selected for people who want to know what's going to be on the exam. As long as the product is never really done and almost never seen or applauded outside the company, this kind of makes sense.
As some big game studios seem to be moving to legacy products and rolling delivery to more and more captive audience, I wonder if the differences in culture will shrink. Maybe we will always depend on cash-strapped studios of slightly desperate iconoclasts for the big leaps.
I think the key difference is what the goal is. With non-game software, there's usually a goal of we want something that achieves X - let's create, spit-ball and iterate until we achieve that. X is a measurable outcome - it requires some creativity, spitballing and iteration, but it's easy to see if/when you've succeeded.
With games, things are a lot more subjective. The goal is create, spitball and iterate until you have something that people find enjoyable. You just keep going until you recognise that you've got something worthwhile. It's a "you'll know it when you see it" situation, rather than something you can track your progress towards. Sometimes you can follow a formula/template and iterate on another games' mechanics/systems and people will like it; sometimes you can do that and people will call it a soulless copycat instead. Sometimes games are technically good but just don't feel enjoyable; sometimes they're enjoyable despite any technical issues they might have.
Amazon and Google's issues stemmed from treating game development like any other software development.
I think you're right, this is a big difference.