The following is a summary of Randy Pitchford's Keynote at the 2004 Computer Game Conference at the University of Texas, Dallas (October 16, 2004).

In the past 5 years, Gearbox Software has developed three #1 best sellers, seven top-ten games, one Academy Award (AIAS) winner, and has worked with five of the top ten publishers in the industry (EA, MSGS, Activision, Vivendi, and Ubisoft). Gearbox is a multi-platform developer and is now planning for the next generation of game hardware and software. In 2005, Gearbox is releasing Brothers In Arms on Xbox, PC, and PS2, a franchise owned by Gearbox Software.

But, in the very near future our industry will experience a paradigm shift. What does this shift mean for Gearbox, and the game industry in general?

Within the next 2 years, the three key players (Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft) will bring new hardware to the market - the Xbox 2 (Xenon), Playstation 3, and the Nintendo Revolution. Additionally, a PC transition will be triggered by Microsoft's next operating system code-named "Longhorn". Each will present new challenges for game development - RAM limitations, multiple processor programming, new middleware and API's, etc.

 Randy Pitchford at CGC 04

 

 

What will the new platforms mean for game development over the next few years?

• On next-generation hardware, we must support High Definition
• Online game-play will grow in importance with the next round
• The growing market will present new creative challenges and opportunities
• 2006 will likely be the biggest transition year for consoles
• 2007 will likely be the biggest transition year for PCs

The next generation development team will need to exhibit the following key traits to be successful:

• Capability - Can utilize and invent new technology and content on pace or ahead of competitors
• Versatility - Can adapt rapidly to the changing landscape of this active and technology based industry
• Wisdom - The market, the market place and key players all factor into decision-making at every level

For game developers, meeting these challenges and remaining competitive will require team growth and structural upgrades.

In order to develop competitive next-generation game titles, studios will need to facilitate growth of their production teams, their art teams, their engineering team, their design teams, and their audio teams - anywhere from 50% up to 200%, depending on the current resources. They will require more technical artists, materials artists (pixel shading), high polygon model builders, and set builders. They will desire more middleware experts and tool engineers, since the burden is growing most heavily on content. They will require designers who are increasingly oriented towards critical thinking, game play and experience crafting, and diplomacy (social engineering). And to manage an expanding team of developers, studios must have good, strong producers.

 

 

Gearbox is a creative studio desiring to craft interactive experiences for people to enjoy. In order to allow our creations to reach the largest number of people, Gearbox is committed to developing multi-platform, next generation games.

But Gearbox must transition into next-gen development in a smart way. The studio must manage the transition years by supporting current generation hardware AND next-generation hardware simultaneously.

To do this requires more resources than ever before.

The key to this is talent. Gearbox anticipates its talent requirements through the transition years to exceed 100%.

Any studio who wants to successfully transition to the next generation must answer this challenge.

What is the Gearbox strategy? Where will Gearbox go to find talented developers?

In the past Gearbox has found new employees through 2 methods: standard "attract" recruitment (web pages, online posts, industry advertising, and headhunters) and standard "hunt" recruitment (targeting respected talent, mod teams, and/or collapsing studios for gems). Gearbox has been able to attract talent to our company for a number of reasons.

1. Gearbox is a AAA developer,
2. that has developed great titles and franchises, and
3. Gearbox is a proven, strong and professional independent studio.

Gearbox provides a great infrastructure, providing the best tools, competitive salaries, excellent benefits and perks, in a great location and a great team to work with. Gearbox also offers one of the largest profit sharing programs in the industry. Within the last 12 months from today (Oct. 12), Gearbox has paid over $2m in royalty bonuses to its developers. Gearbox currently staffs about 40 developers who participate in the royalty bonus program.

Gearbox has had the tendency to recruit experienced game developers.

One of the risks of the Gearbox method (which is a risk to any studio who only considers experienced talent) is that we can expect that EVERY studio that makes the transition to the next generation will be facing the same talent requirements.

Since the key to next-gen success is going to be the quality of new talent, and there is only so much experienced talent available, Gearbox has cultivated a solution - a Gearbox program called COGS.

C.O.G.S. (Contractors Of Gearbox Software) is an initiative to discover new talent by providing an avenue by which inexperienced but enthusiastic future game makers can get their foot in the door. The COGS program allows Gearbox to offer game development opportunity to people whom a next-gen studio may not otherwise have considered hiring. The COGS program solves the catch-22 problem of new talent needing experience to be hired as a game developer, but new talent not being able to get experience without first being hired as a game developer.

COGS is a stepping stone, which will lead talented game makers to a long and successful career at Gearbox, or the COGS program will provide experience which can be leveraged to get a job at another studio. COGS are, technically, independent contractors, who have been offered a short-term contract with Gearbox to integrate with the Gearbox development team to reach a specific objective.

• Gearbox will have MANY slots for COGS.
• With the COGS program, the opportunity for future Dallas game makers to get their foot in the door has never been better.
• The COGS program will become a model.
• At best, COGS participants can earn full-time status at Gearbox entitling them to all of the benefits Gearbox offers.
• At worst, COGS have completed a contract that has provided on-the-job experience that will help them understand their place in the industry and provide them with credit which can be leveraged to obtain a full-time industry job.

Use this information if you are a future game maker - position yourself for the next generation. If you are a current game maker - you now understand something about the strategy of one of your competitors. Consider strategies for your own studios.

Special Note: For more information regarding the COGs program, please see the Gearbox Software COGs page.