As the industry looks to recover from years of layoffs, can a constellation of smaller studios continue to produce big-budget games?

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Game Developer

Co-development—where external studios specialize in specific game development tasks—may help the game industry recover from recent layoffs and economic crisis. This approach allows smaller studios to collaborate on big-budget games while avoiding the financial vulnerability of large, centralized teams. Companies like Virtuos and Keywords dominate the space globally, while smaller studios like Blackbird Interactive, Sweet Baby Inc, and Wolfjaw Studios demonstrate how specialized partners can play critical roles in game production.

Can co-development save the game industry?