_Recording (27) - Oct 2023

Many major studios, including Bioware and Bethesda, have a small number of studios worldwide. As they grow, the number of employees also increases, with potentially thousands of people working for the studio. However, only a fraction of these employees are directly involved in gaming development, with the rest working in business and quality assurance. The number of concept artists in these studios is also quite low, usually no more than 30. Despite the fun nature of the job, the chances of getting into the industry are low. The desire to work for recognizable brands like Ferrari or Lamborghini is similar to wanting to work for major game studios, even without much knowledge about the company. It is important to choose companies based on personal interest and passion. They have about 5 studios, 4 or 5 studios all around the world. They have a quarter in San Francisco, but they have one here in Singapore, they have one in London, and they also have one in Vancouver. Just a very small number, and the same is true for Bioware, the same is true for Bethesda, the same is true for pretty much any major studios. And they might have one more somewhere else, I'm not quite sure. And a few years later, they moved into the UC Irvine campus, I think campus, and at that point, they started getting to the few hundred. I remember talking to some of my friends over there, they're like, ooh, we don't even know who's next door, you don't go down to the hall, and you don't know who that person is. And every week, more new people join. And nowadays, they probably have, I'm guessing, also 3,000 to 4,000, maybe even more people in the entire studio. And of those, I'm guessing maybe about 1,000 or 1,500 are involved in the actual gaming development. Because the rest are business and QA, and things like that. But in terms of actual 3Rs, touching the product itself, are probably about 1,000 or 1,500 people. Of those, how many are console artists, I'm guessing the same number for IOM, no more than 30. In that, concept artists are file numbers by 3Rs, by modelers, by texture artists, by programmers, and file numbers in terms of how many positions are. So when you look at the odds like that, even though the job itself looks really fun, the odds of getting in is actually quite low. Also, wait, you might want to be, you might be a fan, you'll be like, I'm just trying to share my knowledge of the truth behind how hard it actually is. So case in point, you're looking at something like BioWare. But I think what's driving that for the concept industry, it's not because they want to be concept artists to draw every day and to work on product with long hours and put up a lot of stress. I think the answer comes in because they just want to play games, some reality, computer career, right? Let's look at the game studio in particular, or even the film studio. Let's look at a studio like Industrial Light & Magic, the one that just did all the VFX for the Force Awakens, the Star Wars films. So in total, I'm guessing they have an employment count of maybe 3,000 people or 2,000 people, somewhere around there, in the 1,000. But in terms of concept design, draw every day for a living, I believe they have no more than 30, but it's a small number. When I worked over there on the previous Star Wars, they had like about 10 concept artists out now at AOM. And for the film itself, for the episode three, the event of the six, we started with just four concept designers, eventually wrapping up to about six, maybe seven. And of those, not everyone even do concept design full-time. Some were building some 3D, some were doing custom scene drafts, and that kind of stuff. There's a couple out just do sculpting. So you're talking about a multi-billion dollar franchise, eventually with thousands of people working on them, right? Star Wars generally probably have a few thousand people working on them. But yeah, the amount of concept design involved is just like six or seven people. The same is true for major game studios. Looking at Blizzard Entertainment, they started out with what, about 23, 24 people. Back when I visited them in, I can't remember, in 90s. Oh, they were in Irvine in a perfectly square building. So now you're a student, try to become a mechanic or engineer to design high-end car engine. Okay, and you apply to the school that teach you how to do that, how to design a very high-level, high-performing racing engine. And now this school gonna interview you and ask you, what company would you like to work for after you're done? And your answer is Lamborghini, Ferrari. Okay, totally cool. Recognizable companies make great engines. Okay, let's tell us a little bit about this company. Why you wanna work for them? What type of engine do you like? And which Ferrari model is your favorite? Let's see, the answer probably is, I don't know. I just wanna work for them. And I have no clue. Okay, do you know where the engine is mounted? Is it in the front, in the back? And how many cylinders is the engine? The answer probably, no, I have no idea. I just wanna work for them, right? Now, you could see from the school POV, you're starting to be like, oh, hold on, you wanna choose Ferrari or Lamborghini? But yeah, you have no idea what they actually do, right? So, you're choosing those two brands just because one of those brands. Why choosing Ferrari or Lamborghini? And my personal opinion is because those brands are named brands, right? Because they're very well-known and recognizable and they give a lot of points in terms of social size. It's like, oh, amazing, right? I work for Lamborghini, yeah. I don't know anything about them. The question right now is, now, is there anything wrong with that? No, probably not. Choosing the good brands is important. You know what I mean? It makes you happy to work there for sure. It's really fun to be in company that make cool games, right?