Eidos CEO lays out bleak future for small developers

Speaking with the Financial Times recently in an article about the difficulties facing European development studios, Eidos CEO Mike McGarvey has outlined a difficult future for small developers with only one or two teams.

"A studio of about 150 people, split into three teams, is about the ideal size," McGarvey commented, "and it's hard to see how it makes sense for the cottage industry types. They may have more of a future in post- production as a service-based business."

The difficulty facing these smaller developers is down to the increased size of teams required to make modern games, as well as other changes to the business model used by the industry. "Today it's all about production management skill sets," McGarvey explained. "You have to manage teams of 40 to 60 people, not just four programmers and a music guy."

The FT article in which McGarvey made his comments was highlighting the number of European game developers which have folded in the last twelve months. According to the study conducted by the paper, 23 studios shut their doors in 2003 - up from 14 in 2002, and a mere eight in 2001.