A
video game developer is a
softwareComputer software, or just software, is a collection of computer programs and related data that provide the instructions for telling a computer what to do and how to do it....
developerA software developer is a person concerned with facets of the software development process. Their work includes researching, designing, developing, and testing software. A software developer may take part in design, computer programming, or software project management...
(a business or an individual) that
createsGame development is the software development process by which a video game is developed. Development is undertaken by a game developer, which may range from a single person to a large business. Mainstream games are normally funded by a publisher and take several years to develop. Indie games can...
video games. A developer may specialize in a certain
video game consoleA video game console is an interactive entertainment computer or customized computer system that produces a video display signal which can be used with a display device to display a video game...
, such as
Nintendois a multinational corporation located in Kyoto, Japan. Founded on September 23, 1889 by Fusajiro Yamauchi, it produced handmade hanafuda cards. By 1963, the company had tried several small niche businesses, such as a cab company and a love hotel....
's
WiiThe Wii is a home video game console released by Nintendo on November 19, 2006. As a seventh-generation console, the Wii primarily competes with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Sony's PlayStation 3. Nintendo states that its console targets a broader demographic than that of the two others...
,
MicrosoftMicrosoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
's
Xbox 360The Xbox 360 is the second video game console produced by Microsoft and the successor to the Xbox. The Xbox 360 competes with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles...
,
Sony, commonly referred to as Sony, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan and the world's fifth largest media conglomerate measured by revenues....
's
PlayStation 3The is the third home video game console produced by Sony Computer Entertainment and the successor to the PlayStation 2 as part of the PlayStation series. The PlayStation 3 competes with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles...
, or may develop for a variety of systems, including
personal computerA personal computer is any general-purpose computer whose size, capabilities, and original sales price make it useful for individuals, and which is intended to be operated directly by an end-user with no intervening computer operator...
s.
Most developers also specialize in certain types of games, such as
role-playing video gameRole-playing video games are a video game genre with origins in pen-and-paper role-playing games such as Dungeons & Dragons, using much of the same terminology, settings and game mechanics. The player in RPGs controls one character, or several adventuring party members, fulfilling one or many quests...
s or
first-person shooterFirst-person shooter is a video game genre that centers the gameplay on gun and projectile weapon-based combat through first-person perspective; i.e., the player experiences the action through the eyes of a protagonist. Generally speaking, the first-person shooter shares common traits with other...
s. Some focus on
portingIn computer science, porting is the process of adapting software so that an executable program can be created for a computing environment that is different from the one for which it was originally designed...
games from one system to another. Some focus on translating games from one language to another. An unusual few do other kinds of software development work in addition to games.
Most
video game publisherA video game publisher is a company that publishes video games that they have either developed internally or have had developed by a video game developer....
s maintain development studios, such as
Electronic ArtsElectronic Arts, Inc. is a major American developer, marketer, publisher and distributor of video games. Founded and incorporated on May 28, 1982 by Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer games industry and was notable for promoting the designers and programmers...
's
EA CanadaEA Canada is a video game developer located in Burnaby, British Columbia. The development studio opened in January 1983 and is EA's largest and oldest studio...
,
ActivisionActivision is an American publisher, majority owned by French conglomerate Vivendi SA. Its current CEO is Robert Kotick. It was founded on October 1, 1979 and was the world's first independent developer and distributor of video games for gaming consoles...
's
Radical EntertainmentRadical Entertainment is a video game developer based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. It was founded in 1991 and previously developed games for game publishers such as THQ, Microsoft and Fox Interactive. It is now an entirely owned subsidiary of Activision Blizzard after being acquired by...
, Nintendo EAD and Sony
Polyphony DigitalPolyphony Digital, Inc. is an internal video game developing company of Sony Computer Entertainment and is part of Sony Computer Entertainment Worldwide Studios...
. However, as publishing is still their primary activity, they are generally described as "publishers" rather than "developers".
Third-party developers
Third-party developers are usually called upon by a video game publisher to develop a title for one or more systems. Both the publisher and the developer have a great deal of say as to the
designGame design, a subset of game development, is the process of designing the content and rules of a game in the pre-production stage and design of gameplay, environment, storyline, and characters during production stage. The term is also used to describe both the game design embodied in a game as...
and content of the game. In general, though, the publisher's wishes trump the developer's, as the publisher is paying the developer to create the game.
The business arrangement between the developer and publisher is governed by a
contractA contract is an agreement entered into by two parties or more with the intention of creating a legal obligation, which may have elements in writing. Contracts can be made orally. The remedy for breach of contract can be "damages" or compensation of money. In equity, the remedy can be specific...
, which specifies a list of
milestonesWithin the framework of project management, a milestone is the end of a stage that marks the completion of a work package or phase, typically marked by a high level event such as completion, endorsement or signing of a deliverable, document or a high level review meeting.In addition to signaling...
intended to be delivered, for example, every four to eight weeks. By receiving updated milestones, the publisher is able to verify that work is progressing quickly enough to meet the publisher's deadline, and to give direction to the developer if the game is turning out other than as expected in some way. When each milestone is completed and accepted, the publisher pays the developer an advance on
royaltiesRoyalties are usage-based payments made by one party to another for the right to ongoing use of an asset, sometimes an intellectual property...
. The developer uses this money to fund its
payrollIn a company, payroll is the sum of all financial records of salaries for an employee, wages, bonuses and deductions. In accounting, payroll refers to the amount paid to employees for services they provided during a certain period of time. Payroll plays a major role in a company for several reasons...
and otherwise fund its operations.
Successful developers may maintain several teams working on different games for different publishers. Generally, however, third-party developers tend to be small, and consist of a single, close-knit team.
Third-party game development is a volatile business, as small developers may be entirely dependent on money from one publisher. A single canceled game can be lethal to a small developer. Because of this, many of the smaller development companies last only a few years or sometimes only a few months. The continual struggle to get payment for milestones and to line up the next game contract is a persistent distraction to the management of every game developer.
A common and desirable
exit strategyAn exit strategy is a means of leaving one's current situation, either after a predetermined objective has been achieved, or as a strategy to mitigate failure. An organisation or individual without an exit strategy may be in a quagmire...
for an extremely successful video game developer is to sell the company to a publisher, and thus become an in-house developer.
In-house development teams tend to have more freedom as to the design and content of a game, compared to the third-party developers teams. Part of the reason for this is that since the developers are employees of the publisher, their interests are as exactly aligned with those of the publisher as is possible. The publisher can therefore spend much less effort making sure that the developer's decisions do not enrich the developer at the ultimate expense of the publisher.
In recent years the larger publishers have acquired several third-party developers. While these development teams are now technically "in-house" they often continue to operate in an autonomous manner, each with its own culture and work practices. For example: Activision acquired
RavenRaven Software is an American video game developer. The company was founded in 1990 by brothers Brian and Steve Raffel. In 1997, Raven made an exclusive publishing deal with Activision and was subsequently acquired by them...
(1997),
NeversoftNeversoft Entertainment is an American video game developer, founded in 1994 by Joel Jewett, Mick West and Chris Ward. Neversoft is best recognized for their line of Guitar Hero and Tony Hawk skateboarding games, known as the Tony Hawk's series...
(1999),
Z-AxisUnderground Development was a video game developer founded in 1994 and acquired by Activision in May 2002. In 2005, Z-Axis relocated to Foster City, California...
(2001),
TreyarchTreyarch is an American video game developer company, founded in 1996 by Peter Akemann and Doğan Köslü , and acquired by Activision in 2001...
(2001),
LuxofluxLuxoflux was an American video game developer. It was founded by Peter Morawiec and Adrian Stephens in January 1997, and was based in Santa Monica, California.-History:...
(2002),
ShabaShaba Games was a video game developer founded in September 1997, located in San Francisco, California, and acquired by Activision in 2002. Activision closed the studio on October 8, 2009.-Developed games:*Grind Session*Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3...
(2002),
Infinity WardInfinity Ward is an American video game developer. Infinity Ward is responsible for the development of the video game Call of Duty and four other installments in the Call of Duty franchise....
(2003) and
Vicarious VisionsVicarious Visions is an American video game developer founded by the high school brothers Karthik and Guha Bala in 1990, which developed some PC and Game Boy Color games in late 90's and 2000. They later developed Terminus, which won two Independent Games Festival Awards in 1999...
(2005). All these developers continue to operate much as they did before acquisition, with the primary differences being in exclusivity and the financial details.
History has shown that publishers tend to be more forgiving of their own development teams going over budget and missing deadlines than third-party developers.
An in-house development team that works for a console hardware manufacturer is also known as a
first-party developerA video game development party can be one of two parties: a first-party or third-party developer.- First-party developer :In the video game industry, a first-party developer is a developer that is part of a company that manufactures a video game console, and develops exclusively for it...
. A company that is closely tied to a
console manufacturerA console manufacturer is a company that manufactures and distributes video game consoles. It is also known as a first-party video game publisher...
(or occasionally a publisher) is known as a second-party developer. Rather confusingly the publishers themselves are sometimes referred to as third-party developers in the context of their relationships with the console manufacturers (Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo). This particular distinction of first, second and third party developers does not generally apply to PC games development.
Independent developers
Independents are small software developers that are not owned by or beholden to a single publisher. Some of these developers self-publish their games, relying on the
InternetThe Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
and word of mouth for publicity. Without the huge marketing budgets of mainstream publishers, their products almost never get as much recognition or popular acclaim as those of larger publishers such as Sony, Microsoft, or Nintendo. However, they are free to explore experimental themes and styles of gameplay that mainstream publishers would not risk their money on.
With the advent of digital distribution of inexpensive games on current game consoles, it is now becoming possible for independent developers to make direct deals with console manufacturers to get wide distribution for their games.
Other independent developers create game software for a number of video game publishers on various gaming platforms. In recent years this model has been in decline, with the larger publishers such as Electronic Arts and Activision increasingly turning to internal studios, usually former independent developers that they have acquired for the majority of their development needs.
Quality of life
Video game development is usually performed in an extremely casual business environment with T-shirts and sandals being common work attire. Many find this type of environment to be rewarding and pleasant, both professionally and personally. However, the industry is also known to require generally high working hours of its employees, sometimes at a level seen as unsustainable and destructive. Employee
burnoutBurnout is a psychological term for the experience of long-term exhaustion and diminished interest. Research indicates general practitioners have the highest proportion of burnout cases; according to a recent Dutch study in Psychological Reports, no less than 40% of these experienced high levels of...
is not uncommon. (See Crunch time, below).
A typical Game Developer employee based on their profession and level of job experience in 2007 averaged roughly $73,000. Many companies now offer various fringe benefits such as free snacks and beverages and are relaxed about employees taking time out to 'unwind' – sometimes providing video games, ping pong tables and comfortable lounge areas.
In addition to being within the software industry, game development is also within the
entertainmentEntertainment consists of any activity which provides a diversion or permits people to amuse themselves in their leisure time. Entertainment is generally passive, such as watching opera or a movie. Active forms of amusement, such as sports, are more often considered to be recreation...
industry, and most sectors of the entertainment industry (such as
filmA film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
s and
televisionTelevision is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
) are generally known to require long working hours and dedication from their employees. The creative rewards of working in the entertainment business attracts
laborThe workforce is the labour pool in employment. It is generally used to describe those working for a single company or industry, but can also apply to a geographic region like a city, country, state, etc. The term generally excludes the employers or management, and implies those involved in...
to the industry, creating a competitive labor market. This demands a high level of commitment and performance from those who wish to remain competitive as employees. Industry communities such as the IGDA, are exhibiting an increasing amount of discussion about the problem and are concerned that current working conditions in the industry are causing significant deterioration of the quality of life of its employees.
Crunch time
Some video game developers, such as
Electronic ArtsElectronic Arts, Inc. is a major American developer, marketer, publisher and distributor of video games. Founded and incorporated on May 28, 1982 by Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer games industry and was notable for promoting the designers and programmers...
, have been accused of excessive invocation of "crunch time". "Crunch time" is the point at which the team is believed to be failing to achieve the milestones needed to launch the game on time. The increasing complexity of the work flow and the intangibles of artistic and aesthetic demands in video game creation make it difficult to predict accurate milestones.
This comes about because (controversially), most game development engineers and artists in the United States are not paid for their
overtimeOvertime is the amount of time someone works beyond normal working hours. Normal hours may be determined in several ways:*by custom ,*by practices of a given trade or profession,*by legislation,...
when crunching - ostensibly because they are
salaried employeesA salary is a form of periodic payment from an employer to an employee, which may be specified in an employment contract. It is contrasted with piece wages, where each job, hour or other unit is paid separately, rather than on a periodic basis....
. Salaried employees are classified as "exempt non-hourly-paid professionals". In such cases, most state laws relating to overtime pay do not apply. A notable exception is
CaliforniaCalifornia is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
where software developers are specifically protected by enforcing a minimum hourly wage (for every hour worked) to be considered exempt. As of 2008, due to the amendment to California Labor Code Section 515.5 by Bill SB 929, this minimum wage of $36/hour works out to be USD $74,880 per year. Since most staff earn more than this, the California law is largely ineffective in limiting crunch-time practices.
Attention to crunching came to something of a head in 2004 when a
blogA blog is a type of website or part of a website supposed to be updated with new content from time to time. Blogs are usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in...
entry titled "ea_spouse", a manifesto of sorts, was published. Railing against the cruelty of crunch time, it was posted by Erin Hoffman, the then-fiancee of Electronic Arts developer Leander Hasty. Hoffman said her life was being indirectly destroyed by the company's work policy. This led to a great deal of debate in the industry, but without any visible changes until March 2005, when Electronic Arts internally announced that it was planning to extend overtime pay to some of its employees not currently eligible. Hasty and Hoffman have since joined an independent development studio,
1st Playable Productions1st Playable Productions is a game development studio with a focus on handheld games for kids. The company was started by former members of Vicarious Visions, when it was purchased by Activision.-Game Boy Advance:...
, and founded a website oriented towards the discussion of the game development environment industry wide, Gamewatch.
As the age of more senior game developers increases and family responsibilities become more important, many companies are moderating the worst of crunch-time practices in order to attract the most experienced staff.
See also
External links