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[LectureMaster]

Stressed Devs At GDC Admit Optimization Is Now A Focal Point For Studios Due To Ongoing RAM Crisis

Many developers at GDC expressed that optimization is now the main focus more than ever for the gaming industry due to the ongoing crisis.

tech4gamers.com

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As AAA games have evolved, reliance on higher-end system resources has been quite apparent. Unfortunately, most of this happened because studios haven't kept up with game optimization and instead have focused on chasing 'ultra-realistic' visuals.

However, a new report shows the current memory crisis had many developers talking about optimization at GDC.

They argue that games can no longer sell well unless they are highly optimized, as many users can't afford the expensive high-end rigs required for AAA games.

The report by Polygon states that gaming optimization and RAM were a hot topic at the GDC conference this year because the market is more volatile than ever.

I agree, let's f*cking optimize games! We've been letting cool technical work slide for so long. They don't look that much better!

-Zero Parades writer, Siim Kosmos SinamAe.

There was a constant stress present among industry professionals, as developers can no longer assume gamers will keep up with increasing system requirements at the same pace as before.

If you're asking people to suddenly pay more for their systems, that's fewer games than they can purchase. So it does change some of the conversations around how we have to approach our price point.

-Marketing Professional.

Therefore, several developers now want to focus on optimization moving forward. We have already seen tangible effects of this new mindset, with Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight dialing down its recommended memory requirement from 32 GB to 16 GB.
Unfortunately, this also means studios might be forced to introduce asset pop-ins and additional loading screens in games so they use less memory in the future.

 

[pqueue]

Good. Maybe 3 to 5 years of being forced to deal with optimization will make gaming better. Programmers have gotten so lazy for the last two generations that their product is s*** these days

 

[DeepEnigma]

It should've always been a focal point, ya hacks.

 

[PauloRoberto]

Amem to that. It's amazing how you can see (specially on PCs, but consoles too, let's be honest) how hardware resources are wasted, for God's sake!

 

[Calverz]

 

[RedC]

Bout time.

 

[March Climber]

They'll have to convince the higher ups to hire and keep the engineers who excel at this.

 

[ChorizoPicozo]

It's time to get rid of of inclusive Coding

 

[Magic Carpet]

Going from Open Worlds to Open Rooms. Kitchen and Living Room combo.

 

[Durin]

At least there is an upside to the memory shortage.

Unfortunately, this also means studios might be forced to introduce asset pop-ins and additional loading screens in games so they use less memory in the future.

Oh no, pop-in and load screens. You know what's worse? Stutters and shit breaking.

 

[StueyDuck]

It should have always been a focal point you wankers.

 

[Radical_3d]

 

[PeteBull]

Maybe i will go against the grain here, but even back in 2017 when some1 was buying new gaming rig 32gigs of ddr4 was optimal amount, at least for midrange and better configs.
Its 2026 so from my pov 95% of gaming pc's got at least 32gigs of vram, it might be old ddr4 obviously but still...

Yes, u will have plenty super old non gaming lappies/pcs with 16gigs but those arent considered for gaming anyways, owners of those mashines dont buy new AAA games at full price, they either play indies or last gen games so from perspective of AAA devstudio and worldwide publisher- they dont exist anyways.

 

[Luipadre]

What? They have to work on optimization now?

 

[Moondoggy]

Being able to patch and update games really has been a double edged sword for consumers, on the one hand it ensures any issues CAN actually be fixed post release without having to release a whole different version of a game, on the other hand too much of the industry sees it as a crutch that allows them to not fully polish and QA their games and just fix it later, I mean pre PS3/360 era think about how often you heard the term "game breaking bug" being thrown around.

 

[Gaiff]

NVIDIA saving gaming again.

 

[Wildebeest]

Breaking news stressed devs at GDC confess that shitting the bed wasn't a good idea.

 

[LectureMaster]

 

[Arachnid]

Wow lol

AI forcing game devs out of replaceable jobs and forcing them to level up their development skills may actually end up benefiting games in general when the AI bubble pops and ram becomes widely available again.

 

[Loomy]

Fucking ridiculous. Whatever it takes I guess.

 

[Nankatsu]

So Nvidia is actually our savior now?

 

[SJRB]

Videogame developers when they actually have to optimize their slop output for once

 

[LordCBH]

Optimization ALWAYS should've been a focal point for these chodes.

 

[deeptech]

Squeezing through tight spaces 2.0 technology inbound. Upscaling from 32x32 to 4K etc.

 

[vkbest]

NVIDIA saving gaming again.

Sure people is buying two 5090

 

[Sticks]

 

[Fbh]

Cool, but will they optimize or is the "optimization" going to be even more:
"let's render at Ps3 era resolutions and slap some upscaling on it"
??

 

[grvg]

Good, and I hope they get even more stressed.

 

[64gigabyteram]

They should start with past games first. optimize the already unoptimized stuff like Borderlands 4 and Jedi Survivor and such, then with the new optimized builds drop them on Switch 2 for extra $$$.


Caring about your code only benefits your product and your profit in the long run

 

[ResetEraVetVIP]

Being able to patch and update games really has been a double edged sword for consumers, on the one hand it ensures any issues CAN actually be fixed post release without having to release a whole different version of a game, on the other hand too much of the industry sees it as a crutch that allows them to not fully polish and QA their games and just fix it later, I mean pre PS3/360 era think about how often you heard the term "game breaking bug" being thrown around.

This.

 

[Denton]

Amazing. Thank you, nVidia!

 

[analog_future]

Don't worry, Nvidia is here to rescue us with their DLSS 5 tech running on two 5090s

 

[Last Hearth]

I've been saying this all along. Humans are incredibly creative when they need to be but often are lazy when not pushed. So it's always healthy for societies to go through cycles of resource deprivation to force them to be creative.

 

[lifa-cobex]

About fucking time.

The past decade has been a shit show with optimisation.
I've got a perfectly good 3060ti that should not have been struggling with some games.
Folk spending far too much cash on pointless upgrades (pc and console) because of FOMO on essentially just laziness and greed from developers.

I take my hat off to Capcom as they seem to give a shit.

 

[Hari Seldon]

They'll have to convince the higher ups to hire and keep the engineers who excel at this.

Yeah I get the feeling that the engineers with this skill are rare in the video game industry. They either cost too much or have too many options to put up with bullshit gamedev nonsense and bail for 3x the salary elsewhere in tech.

 

[Trilobit]

I've been saying this all along. Humans are incredibly creative when they need to be but often are lazy when not pushed. So it's always healthy for societies to go through cycles of resource deprivation to force them to be creative.

This is honestly one positive part about Nintendo choosing weaker hardware. It forces them to do something unique with their games as they can't rely solely on visual spectacle. Just look at Breath of the Wild. The older I get the more I seem to gravitate towards their "gameplay first" ethos. And their focus on art styles.

 

[March Climber]

Yeah I get the feeling that the engineers with this skill are rare in the video game industry. They either cost too much or have too many options to put up with bullshit gamedev nonsense and bail for 3x the salary elsewhere in tech.

Of course they're more rare today.

They've been taught for the past 20 years that there is no stable job in this industry, from top to bottom.

A friend of mine has an engineer husband and he told me he avoids the gaming industry entirely due to that. He compared it to Hollywood.

 

[intbal]

Traveller's Tales shouldn't have abandoned their proprietary engine.
So it was difficult to work with. So? That's why you get paid. NTT Engine looked amazing in Lego Star Wars. And on fairly low end systems.
Now you've switched to UE5 and you're talking about pop-in for your next game?