The head of Korean studio Shift Up said that game makers in smaller nations, such as South Korea, need to use AI to match the pace of work in the US and China.
South Korean developer Shift Up, known for the hit game Stellar Blade, has a positive outlook towards the use of artificial intelligence in game development. That is, their leader Hyung-tae Kim thinks it is using AI solutions is a necessity for developers in nations that do not have as many populations as the US and China.
In Kim’s view, South Korea, with its 51.6 million inhabitants, cannot afford the same production machinery as China.
“We have about 150 people working on one game, and in China it’s 1,000 or 2,000 people per project. We don’t have that capacity either in production or content.” – says Kim.
And he is not completely wrong – the multitude of people is one of the reasons why Chinese games are starting to surpass games from the USA, Europe and Japan in terms of production. However, the number of people in charge of developing a game never guarantees its quality. Moreover, some of the best video games of all time were made by the teams of less than 150 employees that Kim mentions. Many developers will say that it is easier to develop games in smaller and more agile teams.
It could be said that the real problem is rather the item of time. That is, it is not a problem if “only” 150 people work on a game, and in China it is 1000. The problem is that game development is more expensive the longer it takes, and the assumption is that a larger team (with good work organization) can release new games and content much faster than a smaller team. In the video game industry where trends come and go every 2-3 years, this becomes essential to success.
In any case, the Shift Up studio is currently working on two projects. Stellar Blade 2 is in preparation, which is at least two more years away from release, and until then we will be entertained by Project Spirits. Unless AI accelerates their development.