What’s interesting to me is of course how cheaply Bioshock got made compared to today’s blockbuster hits. Somewhere, we took the wrong turn in regards to modern game development, truly.
Too many managers to pay and as a result too high personel costs, I would assume. :<
Skyrim was made with a staff of around 100 people.
Starfield was made with a staff of around 450. It’s worse in almost every way.
Too many cooks.
Also too many mouths to feed. When you’ve got so many people (including admin) to keep paying, then you can’t “afford” to make a cute little experiment. You’ve got to go huge production, latest fads, cutting edge, and super broad appeal.
What kind of identity can a game like that even hope to have?
One that appeals to a mindless horde of idiots that need the newest shiny.
You’re forgetting all the labor by mod authors to fix Skyrim.
/s kinda