"The games industry is a vastly different space than it was 26 years ago when Sawyer began. Back then, teams of developers for AAA games were usually between 15-40 people, with almost everyone branching out across different skills and, more often than not, undergoing constant crunch to deliver. Halo: Combat Evolved, for example was a team of 40, and GTA 3 was put together by a 23-person team."
"As Sawyer says, "Games are bigger than ever (again), baby!" And this is a huge part of the problem. Development cycles have gone from an average of between 10 months to three years in the 2000s to 5-8 years now. While not every member of the dev team will be on board for the entire cycle, those that are often wind up feeling"
A developer with 26 years of experience began by making and playing tabletop RPGs and entered the industry in 1999 at Black Isle Studios. The developer now serves as studio design director at Obsidian and led development on Fallout: New Vegas and Pillars of Eternity 1 and 2. Job security has worsened despite a long career and respected titles. AAA team sizes have grown from 15–40 people to anywhere from solo creators to thousands. Longer 5–8 year development cycles and larger projects have increased contract and specialist roles, shifting crunch into broad, sustained burnout.
Read at PC Gamer
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