this post was submitted on 28 Aug 2025
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[–] LuxSpark@lemmy.cafe 91 points 22 hours ago (4 children)

There’s 450 Diablo developers?

[–] thatKamGuy@sh.itjust.works 46 points 20 hours ago (3 children)

According to the Diablo IV credits, over 9,500 people worked on that title in some capacity:

https://www.mobygames.com/game/204085/diablo-iv/credits/windows/

[–] DupaCycki@lemmy.world 3 points 2 hours ago

I've worked in the video game industry for a couple years and have been credited in several games. This number may actually be higher.

It may sound crazy, but there's a lot of people working on AAA games, usually most of them completely unrelated to game dev. Marketing, public relations, translators, 3D graphics artists, sound designers, orchestra performers, motion capture stuntmen, voice actors. Probably a few dozen managers, who have never even seen the game. Hell, some companies even credit IT staff in the game's credits.

That's already a whole bunch of teams. It's also important to mention that many third-party contractors will often be skipped from the credits. QA is very commonly outsourced (to poorer countries like Romania or Serbia) and rarely gets into the credits. You may only see 5-10 names, while in reality it was at least 100. This is true for several other fields, though mostly non-game-related, e.g., localization, promotial material, merchandise.

I won't disclose in what capacity, but in the past I have worked on several of Blizzard's titles for a few months and I'm not credited anywhere. Just like at least a couple hundred other people. Not necessarily saying I should be - it was never mentioned or promised. Just highlighting that the real number of staff that worked on the game (or adjacent to the game) may be above 10k.

[–] overload@sopuli.xyz 6 points 7 hours ago* (last edited 7 hours ago) (2 children)

Crazy that AAA games take that many developers no wonder they all feel a bit samey.

[–] thatKamGuy@sh.itjust.works 8 points 6 hours ago (1 children)

As a bit of a thought exercise, I went through every mainline GTA game using that website to get an idea of each title’s respective headcount:

  • GTA : 86 people (DOS)
  • GTA2 : 170 professional roles (Windows)
  • GTA3 : 185 professional roles (PS2)
  • GTA:VC : 688 professional roles (PS2)
  • GTA:SA : 780 people (PS2)
  • GTA4 : 1,333 professional roles (PS3)
  • GTA5 : 3,686 professional roles (X360)

So while the general headcount growth over time tends to track, as each generation of platform requires more and more people to churn out higher fidelity content, I can’t help but wonder what portion of that headcount is just there to churn out micro transaction and Games-as-a-Service garbage.

[–] DupaCycki@lemmy.world 2 points 2 hours ago

A good number of that is 3D artists. Try making a highly detailed 3D model in Blender. Now imagine a game like GTA V has thousands of those, but even more detailed. This is one of the major reasons why AAA are taking longer and longer to produce. At the same time, game systems and mechanics are simplified to cut costs.

[–] Duamerthrax@lemmy.world 6 points 7 hours ago (1 children)

Most of those devs are probably freelancers or from hired studios doing esoteric work. It's still crazy to see these numbers when most of the games I play are indie and have tiny credit listings. 450 people could make at least ten of the games I play.

I'm still surprised when I see 50+ on some indie games.

[–] Frozengyro@lemmy.world 13 points 18 hours ago (1 children)

Yea there's still ongoing seasons for Diablo 3, Diablo immortal, Diablo 4 (seasons and another expansion), Diablo 2 resurrection. Probably other stuff I'm not aware of.

[–] MBech@feddit.dk 5 points 6 hours ago (1 children)

Diablo 2 ressurection seasons don't actually get new content though. It's just a wipe.

[–] Frozengyro@lemmy.world 4 points 6 hours ago (2 children)

Weird, seems kinda pointless.

[–] explodicle@sh.itjust.works 3 points 5 hours ago

IIRC seasons as we know them started with D2C with no new content. Endgame items had become commonplace, and it was hard for beginners to trade. Everybody missed what it was like when the game first started.

Of course, some parts can never be repeated. I was following the story and got legit surprised by Duriel.

[–] MBech@feddit.dk 3 points 5 hours ago

The community isn't happy about it either.

[–] dinckelman@lemmy.world 36 points 22 hours ago (2 children)

I genuinely don't understand what all those people are doing there. Not just in Blizzard, but any other corporate studio

[–] tal@lemmy.today 5 points 9 hours ago* (last edited 9 hours ago)

Well, someone in this thread linked to the Diablo 4 credits, and those list what they do.

[–] Truscape@lemmy.blahaj.zone 29 points 22 hours ago

Microsoft is notoriously bureaucratic - there's probably a lot of PR, middle managers, support staff and bean counters at each studio.

[–] saltesc@lemmy.world 21 points 21 hours ago

I think you just discovered why they're unionising so hard.

Microsoft: Don't worry, Blizzard. We can quash a union attempt. There's only like 100 of them, tops..

Blizzard: There's 650.

Microsoft: _spits drink _. For this shit!?

[–] Strobelt@lemmy.world 10 points 20 hours ago (2 children)

I bet 449 are just for the auction house

[–] eve@evenyc.com 1 points 5 hours ago* (last edited 5 hours ago)

unpopular opinion. i liked the ah in D3. was able to make my money back. should be in all games to make your money back when they churn out shitty games. at least u can make a profit from a bad game

[–] kurushimi@sh.itjust.works 5 points 17 hours ago

I’m giddy that we’ll never let them live down D3 Original