Ubisoft CEO told staff today the company must "succeed in strongly limiting our spending"

[the-pi-guy]

if their GaaS titles aren't a resource hog,.. it won't take off.  

people don't keep playing games that get a 1-time content drop and then go into "maintenance" mode.   heck,.. without new content regularly does the game even qualify as a GaaS?

Fortnite shipped with 25 people, which depending on the type of game (genre wise) probably isn't feasible. But it is possible for that to happen.

[BananaKing]

Fortnite shipped with 25 people, which depending on the type of game (genre wise) probably isn't feasible. But it is possible for that to happen.

Did you play fortnite when it first released? It was barebones as fudge and only succeeded because it was F2P while PUBG wasn't.  If you wanted to get into the battle royal craze but didn't wanna pay, fortnite was the way to do so.

[the-pi-guy]

Did you play fortnite when it first released? It was barebones as fudge and only succeeded because it was F2P while PUBG wasn't.  If you wanted to get into the battle royal craze but didn't wanna pay, fortnite was the way to do so.

Fun fact, I've never played Fortnite. Or any live service game ever.

I'm not saying that Sony could do it with such a small team. I'm just saying most of these games didn't start out with as large of teams as they currently have. I expect that the teams will have something in the 150-300 range before they launch, and if they're successful enough that could very well bloom out to 1000+.

I guess more interesting, is what happens if they're not successful. Does the studio move onto another live service title, do they get shut down, or could they move onto a single player title instead.

[BananaKing]

Fun fact, I've never played Fortnite. Or any live service game ever.

I'm not saying that Sony could do it with such a small team. I'm just saying most of these games didn't start out with as large of teams as they currently have. I expect that the teams will have something in the 150-300 range before they launch, and if they're successful enough that could very well bloom out to 1000+.

I guess more interesting, is what happens if they're not successful. Does the studio move onto another live service title, do they get shut down, or could they move onto a single player title instead.

I really doubt most of these titles are using 1000+ people. How much is respawn? How much is bungie? How big are psyonix?

Even if launch isn't successful, updates and even changing the business model could turn the game around.

I guess it depends on the studio, ND would certainly live and return to single player games, even if successful, I could see this being their only GaaS game for for the next 5-10 years.

A studio like haven? I doubt sony paid much for them, I could see Sony giving them another chance, specially if the game is good. Sony seems to be more concerned with quality over sales. And by quality I mean reviews. I think they have the conviction that if a team is good and makes a good game, even if it bombs, they have quality to make another game that can be successful.

[Legend]

Fun fact, I've never played Fortnite. Or any live service game ever.

I'm not saying that Sony could do it with such a small team. I'm just saying most of these games didn't start out with as large of teams as they currently have. I expect that the teams will have something in the 150-300 range before they launch, and if they're successful enough that could very well bloom out to 1000+.

I guess more interesting, is what happens if they're not successful. Does the studio move onto another live service title, do they get shut down, or could they move onto a single player title instead.

I think the best strategy is to do most of the game's development post release anyway. People love getting updates and feeling like things are on the up and up. Just got to make sure the new content can start coming out rapidly.

Hopefully Sony keeps these teams small. 50-100 people at a studio after a failed launch is hard enough to manage. A 300 person team with a flop would be a nightmare for everyone involved.

I really doubt most of these titles are using 1000+ people. How much is respawn? How much is bungie? How big are psyonix?

Respawn was 115 at launch. Fortnite was 25 and then about half a thousand people at its height.

[the-pi-guy]

I really doubt most of these titles are using 1000+ people. How much is respawn? How much is bungie? How big are psyonix?

Sorry, I don't think any of them were quite that big.

I know some of these studios have ~700 people working on these games. Fortnite, Genshin Impact. Bungie has 850ish there, working on multiple things though.

Even if launch isn't successful, updates and even changing the business model could turn the game around.

I guess it depends on the studio, ND would certainly live and return to single player games, even if successful, I could see this being their only GaaS game for for the next 5-10 years.

A studio like haven? I doubt sony paid much for them, I could see Sony giving them another chance, specially if the game is good. Sony seems to be more concerned with quality over sales. And by quality I mean reviews. I think they have the conviction that if a team is good and makes a good game, even if it bombs, they have quality to make another game that can be successful.

Yeah for sure! 

[BananaKing]

I think the best strategy is to do most of the game's development post release anyway. People love getting updates and feeling like things are on the up and up. Just got to make sure the new content can start coming out rapidly.

Hopefully Sony keeps these teams small. 50-100 people at a studio after a failed launch is hard enough to manage. A 300 person team with a flop would be a nightmare for everyone involved.
Respawn was 115 at launch. Fortnite was 25 and then about half a thousand people at its height.

Yeah you reach those high numbers when the game is a huge success. I think the most important thing is to have a fun core gameplay.

I gotta say, despite not liking it, I admit fortnite is an extremely impressive game. They keep updating it and making it better and better. They have their own meta story, so many skins. And even stuff like the spiderman web slinging gameplay additions are cool as hell.

[kitler53]

343i is about 500. 

psyonix is about 200. 

CoD is over 3000.  

blizzard is massive as well. 

[Legend]

Hello Champions! Let’s clear it out of the way first, Roller Champions isn’t getting cancelled, and Ubisoft fully supports it.

You can rest assured we’ll keep you updated as we roll forward.

Full statement: pic.twitter.com/U8mfQRZRoH

— Roller Champions (@RollerChampions) July 25, 2022