- Co-development has become a common strategy for game developers, and one such team is Devoted Studios, which co-developed Five Nights at Freddy’s and Arc Raiders.
- The co-development market is projected to grow significantly in the coming years.
- Devotes Studios’ work also shows up in various other IPs, often without appearing in the press tour.
Arc Raiders has become one of the most successful multiplayer titles in recent memory, and it’s no secret that the game continues to do well.
While many credit Embark for the game’s success, which is well deserved, to be fair, there is another studio that flies under the radar in these discussions. Arc Raiders would not be the same without the support of its co-developer, the same team that also worked on Five Nights at Freddy’s.
Why it matters: Modern game development has become so strenuous that it can no longer be considered a one-team job.
Although Embark Studios has been credited for most of Arc Raiders’ success so far, the team did not make the game alone. Indeed, Embark Studios had an excellent co-developer working alongside it.
For context, a co-developer is also different from outsourcing. The latter entails working with assets sent from a studio and then moving on after quality assurance. On the other hand, co-development involves being embedded into the team’s development pipeline for up to several years at a time.
Such was the case for Devoted Studios, which has worked as a co-developer on various titles to date. These include Arc Raiders, Overwatch 2, and multiple Five Nights at Freddy’s games.
For Five Nights at Freddy’s, Devoted Studios collaborated with Steel Wool Studios, helping in areas like optimization, porting, and broader co-development support. On the other hand, the team worked on engineering, UI work, and optimization for Arc Raiders.
Why Studios Are Leaning on Co-Development More
The secret to co-development has to do with the scale and scope of modern AAA productions. It’s no secret that games cost hundreds of millions of dollars to make today, and they often comprise teams of 200-300 developers.
This is challenging because layoffs have also become far too common in today’s gaming industry. One solution is to hire people in droves during a project’s development and then inevitably announce layoffs once the game ships.
Of course, this is completely inappropriate, and this is where co-development comes in. Today, external developers exist whose entire model is built around integrating into other studios’ pipelines.
This is precisely why co-development and outsourcing have grown so rapidly in recent years. A team like Devoted operates with over 250 specialists across 15 countries around the globe. This type of support can prove invaluable to even the biggest of teams.
