While the gaming community hopes to be able to enjoy new titles on a wide variety of platforms, according to one developer, this creates a lot of work to achieve. Through a publication, he has offered an inside view of the complexity behind this process.
Martin Griffiths, No Man’s Sky engine programmer at Hello Games, has illustrated with an example how difficult it is to develop a game and why this freedom of options requires so much work. Gamesradar.com has reported on this issue. As he explains, the problem in game development is not the game itself, but the diversity of dozens of hardware combinations that exist on the market. If you want to serve each of these platforms, a great effort is required. He himself writes:
“It’s a long list that hopefully reflects the complexity associated with launching a large cross-platform game like ours,” he says.
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On platform X, mention the following platforms and combinations they had to consider for No Man’s Sky: PS5 (Base), PS5 (Base, PSVR2), PS5 Pro, PS5 Pro (8K), PS5 Pro (PSVR2), PS4 (Base), PS4 (two versions : 1080p and 4K), PS4 (PSVR), PS4 Pro (PSVR), PS4 (PSVR, enhanced version, if installed on PS5), Xbox One, Xbox One S, Xbox One X (4 versions: Quality/Performance, 1080p /4K).
In addition to these consoles, there are the Xbox Series S (4 versions: Quality/Performance, 1080p/4K), Xbox Series X, Switch (Portable), Switch (TV Mode), PC (around 140 different combinations of graphic options, including AA, Super Resolution, quality modes and more) Mac (a similar number of options, with development support from The-Forge), PC (Steam Deck, Rog Ally, Intel, Laptop/), PCVR (about a dozen of compatible headphones and most of the same options as in normal PC mode).
It can be quickly seen that even individual platforms like PS5 or Xbox require several different versions and options. This considerably increases the complexity of development.
Optimization is the magic word for many players
Because of this, a topic that both PC and console players are passionate about has come to the fore: game optimization. In many cases, games come to market with bugs or technical problems. Even with fast hardware, you don’t get stable frame rates if the game is poorly optimized.
For this reason and in closing, the community is constantly asking for better optimization: if developers invested more time and effort in development and optimization, games would run much better and there would be less criticism. After all, gamers want to buy and play, not get frustrated with technical issues.
Valve was on the verge of bankruptcy and thinking about being sold
Gabe Newell, the co-founder of Valve Corporation, revealed in a documentary about Half-Life 2 that the company was on the brink of bankruptcy due to a fierce legal battle with entertainment industry giant Vivendi Games. According to him, the conflict focused mainly on the distribution rights of Counter-Strike, one of Valve’s most popular titles at the time. Vivendi, in an attempt to expand its influence in the video game market, sought to obtain a greater share of the revenue generated by this successful title.
In the documentary, he says that Vivendi’s legal strategy was especially aggressive. Not only were they seeking a favorable resolution in court, but they were also attempting to destabilize Valve financially. By including the company’s founders, including Gabe Newell and his wife, in the lawsuit, they sought to drag Valve into a protracted and expensive legal battle. Newell explained that Vivendi’s intention was clear: “They wanted to put us out of business and bankrupt us both.” This tactic, according to Newell, was a show of power by a larger publisher seeking to intimidate independent developers.
The legal battle had a profound impact on Valve. The company was forced to allocate a large amount of financial resources to its legal defense, which jeopardized its long-term viability. Newell admitted that the company was “on the brink of bankruptcy.” Despite this critical situation, Valve managed to persevere and ultimately prevailed in the legal battle. This victory allowed the company to consolidate its position in the video game industry and lay the foundation for the success of platforms such as Steam.
A fight between Valve and Vivendi that in the end, served as a reminder of the challenges that independent developers face in an industry dominated by large corporations. He also highlighted the importance of protecting intellectual property rights and the need for a fair competitive environment for developers.
