From the same interview, they said they scaled up from a team of about 65 for It Takes Two to a team of about 80 for Split Fiction, which they made in four years. Back of the napkin math means that Split Fiction was made for about $50M. I find game budgets to be really interesting to track lately, because so many have become so reckless with them that it's great to see what can be made if you scope down.
this post was submitted on 18 Mar 2025
127 points (97.7% liked)
Games
40655 readers
1042 users here now
Welcome to the largest gaming community on Lemmy! Discussion for all kinds of games. Video games, tabletop games, card games etc.
Rules
1. Submissions have to be related to games
Video games, tabletop, or otherwise. Posts not related to games will be deleted.
This community is focused on games, of all kinds. Any news item or discussion should be related to gaming in some way.
2. No bigotry or harassment, be civil
No bigotry, hardline stance. Try not to get too heated when entering into a discussion or debate.
We are here to talk and discuss about one of our passions, not fight or be exposed to hate. Posts or responses that are hateful will be deleted to keep the atmosphere good. If repeatedly violated, not only will the comment be deleted but a ban will be handed out as well. We judge each case individually.
3. No excessive self-promotion
Try to keep it to 10% self-promotion / 90% other stuff in your post history.
This is to prevent people from posting for the sole purpose of promoting their own website or social media account.
4. Stay on-topic; no memes, funny videos, giveaways, reposts, or low-effort posts
This community is mostly for discussion and news. Remember to search for the thing you're submitting before posting to see if it's already been posted.
We want to keep the quality of posts high. Therefore, memes, funny videos, low-effort posts and reposts are not allowed. We prohibit giveaways because we cannot be sure that the person holding the giveaway will actually do what they promise.
5. Mark Spoilers and NSFW
Make sure to mark your stuff or it may be removed.
No one wants to be spoiled. Therefore, always mark spoilers. Similarly mark NSFW, in case anyone is browsing in a public space or at work.
6. No linking to piracy
Don't share it here, there are other places to find it. Discussion of piracy is fine.
We don't want us moderators or the admins of lemmy.world to get in trouble for linking to piracy. Therefore, any link to piracy will be removed. Discussion of it is of course allowed.
Authorized Regular Threads
Related communities
PM a mod to add your own
Video games
Generic
- !gaming@Lemmy.world: Our sister community, focused on PC and console gaming. Meme are allowed.
- !photomode@feddit.uk: For all your screenshots needs, to share your love for games graphics.
- !vgmusic@lemmy.world: A community to share your love for video games music
Help and suggestions
By platform
By type
- !AutomationGames@lemmy.zip
- !Incremental_Games@incremental.social
- !LifeSimulation@lemmy.world
- !CityBuilders@sh.itjust.works
- !CozyGames@Lemmy.world
- !CRPG@lemmy.world
- !OtomeGames@ani.social
- !Shmups@lemmus.org
- !VisualNovels@ani.social
By games
- !Baldurs_Gate_3@lemmy.world
- !Cities_Skylines@lemmy.world
- !CassetteBeasts@Lemmy.world
- !Fallout@lemmy.world
- !FinalFantasyXIV@lemmy.world
- !Minecraft@Lemmy.world
- !NoMansSky@lemmy.world
- !Palia@Lemmy.world
- !Pokemon@lemm.ee
- !Skyrim@lemmy.world
- !StardewValley@lemm.ee
- !Subnautica2@Lemmy.world
- !WorkersAndResources@lemmy.world
Language specific
- !JeuxVideo@jlai.lu: French
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
How you conclude that Split Fiction Budget Was $50 Million?
An assumption that each employee costs them about $150k/year in salary/office space/benefits. There are lots of ways it can be more complicated than that, including the fact that they're in Sweden, but last I heard, $150k/year/developer was about what you'd expect to pay in the US, if a company was interested in replicating this kind of development in a place where labor costs are probably highest.
Wow, you mean they didn’t make a successful game and then immediately triple their staff and try to start pumping out formulaic games at double pace?
But what about company growth??
I can't tell you how nice it is to see this variation on the story instead of "studio behind hit new game shuts down."
This reminded me of Larian, and I wondered what these two had in common. (Hazelight studios is swedish)
Making good games?
I was thinking more "not in the us"
Fair enough.
I'm currently playing split fiction with a friend and it's really good, we enjoyed it takes two when that came out as well. There's not enough co-op games like this so it's good to hear they're doing well
"A way out" is by the same devs and also pretty cheap. They had some good parts in there already but the shift to stylized characters definitely was the right call. A lot of yellow paint and weird interactions in the first one but still very enjoyable.
Oh I never realised that was the same devs, we've played the entire series and loved those as well! (The second one wasn't as good but the third and fourth were great)
"Exciting Thing" is a meh title name...
/s
Probably one of the few smaller developers who are doing very well under EA's umbrella.