EA: AAA Studios Saw 80 Percent Decline This Generation

From social features to a greater sense of online connectivity, the gaming industry has substantially changed since the start of our current generation of consoles. New franchises found significant audiences, Netflix and other streaming services became the norm on consoles, and sadly, many studios were forced to close. It’s the unfortunate reality of working in this business, and according to EA's chief creative officer, Richard Hilleman, AAA console developers have declined by almost 80 percent since the launch of the Xbox 360.

Hilleman’s calculations can be found in a DICE Europe whitepaper, where he claims that just 25 studios remain in AAA development of the initial 125. However, the substantial increase in team size due to the big-budget nature of these projects means that the number of actual developers on the job hasn’t really changed.

"I've done some calculations that say there were about 125 teams in the industry worldwide working on what I'd call a AAA game on a console, and that was 7 or 8 years ago. That number today is well south of 30; probably in the 25 range,” Hilleman said. "What's interesting is that, if you look at the composition of those teams, the numbers are exactly the same: those 125 teams became 25; the size of the teams increased by a factor of four."

What’s been the cause of such a developmental shift? Hilleman looks to the math to give us all the answers.

"It has everything to do with the standard definition to HD change,” he continued. “If you look at the math that change is about content – richly about content – and as we evolved, our costs went substantially up. And the number of people on teams with that kind of vision went up by necessity."

If you’re searching for one of the leading AAA studios, look no further than EA. It has some of the biggest AAA games in the works, including Battlefield 4 and Star Wars: Battlefront.