Comparing Companies and Processes

Using all of my research, I will compare the way two drastically different games are made from two very different development studios. I have chosen Activision's 'Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2' and Team Meat's 'Super Meat Boy'. Both of these games have been called 'genre-defining', so I thought it would be interesting to compare them both. CoD is a first-person shooter that simulates a modern-day war environment. It mainly depicts conflicts between global affairs, usually associated with terrorism and government officials/soldiers carrying out missions to put a stop to terrorist activities that put the globe at risk, which are mainly carried out by Russian terrorists. Super Meat Boy is a 2D platform game which focuses on difficulty, short, but innovative level design, precision controls. The story involves Meat Boy having to save his love, Bandage Girl from the evil clutched of Dr. Fetus. 

Roles of different members in each studio differ vastly, with larger companies having more refined roles (hence many more people involved with each project) and smaller studios having considerably less people with more tasks than one. Activision, for example, employed game development studio Infinity Ward to make Call of Duty, whereas the company themselves took care of the publishing side. Already, there are two companies which would both consist of many people to make this single piece of software. This means that while each person only has one task to focus on, they also don't have as much interaction with their co-workers. This can lead to the job not being anywhere near as enjoyable and, along with deadlines to meet, can make things more stressful and rushed.

On the other hand, with Team Meat, there are a grand total of two people. Here, these two friends will have a much closer relationship when working on the game, meaning a lot more tweaking to be done and more creativity put into the game. Deadlines aren't anywhere near as much of a problem as they are which high-profile games like CoD, since the team decided themselves when is best to release the game. A more laid-back and comfortable setting can really have an impact on the game's overall feel.

The main difference between the studios are their overall motives. Companies like Activision are making their games for profit more than consumer enjoyment. While that is a factor, profit is definitely the main goal. With smaller games, the developers want to leave an impact on the gaming world because their games are fun, not because they sold 50 million units in a week. This can be made evident with the "West and Zampella" case, in which the senior leaders of Infinity Ward were fired due to the inability to conform to Activision's authority. After this, both ex-members sued the publishing giant for millions, only to be hit with a counter-action lawsuit claiming they had breached their contracts and were holding up production of the next CoD game. Also, it was claimed that West and Zampella were the reasons that the Infinity Ward team did not receive any bonuses. “And those unpaid Infinity Ward bonuses? Apparently West and Zampella wouldn’t let Activision pay them. According to Team Kotick, it really wanted to get the money to its “many valued employees”, but West and Zampella withheld the details of the recipients, attempting to claim Infinity Wards’ bonus pool for themselves. Activision claims this wasn’t merely an act of greed, but a calculated attempt to dissuade Infinity Ward employees from remaining loyal to Activision by creating bad blood between developer and publisher.”

Nothing like this happens with Team Meat or other smaller studios (in most cases). Since there are only two people, friends for that matter, there is no conflict with companies about money or work. Creativity and fun is the main priority here, and whether or not the game does well commercially is a huge bonus.

In conclusion, I know that I still prefer the smaller companies over money-hungry powerhouses like Activision and Bobby Kotick. Super Meat Boy is an amazingly crafted game, with every little detail being filled with a genuine passion that CoD could never produce. The state of bigger companies nowadays is enough to put me off ever working for one, as it seems to drain out the one thing that drew me into the industry in the first place: Fun.

Reference:

Reference:

Houghton, David (December, 2010) Activision: Ex-Infinity Ward men wouldn't let us pay staff, tried to crush poor old Treyarch, eat kittens on toast

Available from:
<http://www.gamesradar.com/xbox360/call-of-duty-black-ops/news/activision-ex-infinity-ward-men-wouldnt-let-us-pay-staff-tried-to-crush-poor-old-treyarch-eat-kittens-on-toast/a-20101222112124328034/g-20100430155437473001>
[Accessed 28th January 2011]