Left 4 Dead writer and former Valve developer Chet Faliszek adds perspective to the current state of gaming, saying that teams are too big these days and it's leading to a lot of wasted time and money.
Valve is massive in terms of earnings and influence, but its teams are small compared to other publishers. The reality is that large teams often cause massive inefficiencies; having too many cooks can crowd the kitchen, so to speak. Having smaller, more agile teams with people who are all on the same page was the key to making games like Left 4 Dead.
Over on his YouTube channel, former Valve writer Chet Faliszek shares his industry take, expressing with first-hand experience as to how big game development teams can ultimately cause more problems than they solve. Faliszek's words ring with truth, especially as practically every game-making team in the industry has shed workers in an effort to reduce some of the very costs associated with things like wastage and indecision.
"Practicing getting good at understanding what people are going to notice and not notice is a helpful trait, and you can do that when you're in a small team because you're all talking in the same room," Faliszek said, reminding us that game development is very much collaborative and social in an almost tribal way.
"That is it, the entire team making a decision together is so magical. When you're all like 'yeah, oh yeah.' Often, when someone can verbalize those changes or those ideas, and you all look around like 'man, that's so obvious...why are we having this meeting?'"
"I don't think teams would be improved or games would be improved by instead of having...we made Left 4 Dead 2 with 45 people. I don't think it would have been a better game if we made it with 450 people."
"I don't think what would have come out of that would be the same way that what was in there. I think some of what we chase now in the game industry as our goals make us create these bigger teams..."
This connection was severed when the world had to shelter in place years ago. COVID-19 interrupted the industry's plans and forced remote work. Faliszek is of the mind that this caused some issues because communication itself was altered; people couldn't be in the same room and absorb and bounce off of each other in the same way.
He goes on to bring home one very important point: The longer a game takes to make, the more expensive it becomes.
"I really think that the games industry struggles now when we try to make these giant productions with all these people.
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"It's not about chasing fidelity again, it's the result of those giant teams that just cause so much waste and indecision, and that's where we end up spending our time."
