Episode 85: The Downsides of Developer Transparency

There has always been an air of mystery surrounding the game development process. In the past, this was mainly due to the archaic processes involved and the massive amounts of specialized knowledge required to dip a toe into that world. Fast-forward to now, what has changed? Well, the tools are a whole lot better, the entire process has become much more open to people of all talents, and the basic concepts of game development are pretty much common knowledge, even to the casual gamer. But, as games got easier to make they grew exponentially in their complexity and the concept of AAA development entered the fold. In the past, where only a handful of developers were required to churn out a blockbuster, now hundreds of developers spend several years creating these things. Granted, we do have our fair share of indie darlings that rise to the top, but those are almost exceptions to the rule when you compare their market share to the incredible amount of money going in and out at the AAA level. For a myriad of reasons, as games got more and more complex, it became harder for gamers and aspiring devs to get a behind-the-scenes look at the process. This lack of transparency has become something of a polarizing issue in the industry. On today's episode, we break down the recent discussions involving developer transparency. What are the benefits of it? Is it worth the risk? Why don't bigger developers share more? We cover all these questions and more.