Ideals Like Full-Time Employment and Job Security Are ‘Too Romantic’ in Game Dev, Says Monument Valley Studio CEO

The CEO of Monument Valley developer Ustwo Games, Maria Sayans, has outlined the workplace needs to little improvement costs, and to bash truthful it volition trust connected contractors successful the aboriginal alternatively than hiring full-time staff. Sayans explained the program successful an interrogation with Game Developer astatine London Games Fest.

In the aftermath of Netflix dropping the Monument Valley games from its work and deals with large companies drying up, Ustwo has a program to absorption connected gathering “meaningful azygous subordinate experiences” for PC and consoles. It’s a program already successful motion, with Ustwo precocious porting respective of its games to platforms similar Steam and Switch without steadfast support.

However, Sayans explained that they’ve subsequently learned that little improvement budgets are going to beryllium crucial.

“We saw a batch of imaginable for the Monument Valley IP to beryllium possibly reset and reinvented for PC and consoles, but what became wide was that our improvement budgets were excessively precocious for america to execute a safer interruption adjacent if we were aiming for PC and console,” she said, explaining that the workplace has been making games implicit three- to four-year accumulation cycles for betwixt £7 cardinal to £10 million, and that they person to little that outgo – particularly if and erstwhile moving connected caller projects extracurricular the established Monument Valley series.

“For example, if we did thing similar Alba oregon Assemble With Care, we would person to bash that for a batch little money,” said Sayans. “There are radical doing really, truly good successful those spaces connected PC for overmuch smaller budgets, that we volition ne'er beryllium capable to execute due to the fact that we’re based successful London and person employees with pensions and truthful on.

“We’ve been a small spot excessively romanticist astir the thought that we should person employees and springiness radical semipermanent occupation security. I deliberation that got america into a spot where, reaching the heights of Monument Valley 3 [production], contractors were ever a comparatively debased percent of our worker base.”

Sayans said Ustwo volition beryllium changing this equilibrium successful the future.

“I deliberation going forward, we’ll spot that we’ve got a halfway squad and immoderate maturation volition travel done contractors, which is thing I hatred astir the industry. I’ve been successful the manufacture for 20 years, and those of america who joined successful the aboriginal 2000s, we had it precise good. You privation to beryllium capable to springiness that benignant of stability... but I deliberation that's a displacement successful however we privation to enactment with radical going forward.”

Luke is simply a Senior Editor connected the IGN reviews team. You tin way him down connected Bluesky @mrlukereilly to inquire him things astir stuff.