Former Assassin's Creed Director Says Game Industry's Future 'Lies in Smaller Teams'
Alexandre Amancio, veteran director behind major Assassin's Creed titles, argues that AAA gaming's massive team approach is unsustainable and smaller development crews hold the key to the industry's future.
The game development world is buzzing after Alexandre Amancio, the veteran director behind some of Assassin’s Creed’s most acclaimed entries, delivered a striking critique of modern AAA game development. His bold assertion that the industry’s future “lies in smaller teams” has sparked intense debate about whether gaming’s biggest studios are heading down an unsustainable path.
The Man Behind the Message
Amancio isn’t just another industry commentator throwing stones from the sidelines. As a former director at Ubisoft who helped shape the Assassin’s Creed franchise during some of its most successful years, his words carry significant weight in development circles. His experience working within the massive machinery of AAA production gives his perspective particular credibility when he questions the very foundation of how these games are made.
The Case Against Massive Development Teams
According to reports, Amancio argues that the current trend toward ever-larger development teams is fundamentally flawed. The veteran developer suggests that smaller, more focused crews represent a more sustainable and effective approach to game creation. This perspective directly challenges the prevailing wisdom in AAA gaming, where teams of hundreds or even thousands of developers have become the norm for major releases.
The implications of this viewpoint are staggering when you consider the scale of modern game development. Major AAA titles now routinely require development teams that dwarf the populations of small towns, with budgets to match their astronomical headcounts.
Why This Matters Now
The gaming industry finds itself at a crossroads, with several factors making Amancio’s comments particularly timely:
- Rising development costs that have reached unsustainable levels for many studios
- Increasing project timelines that stretch for years or even decades
- Quality control challenges that emerge when coordinating massive teams
- Market saturation making it harder for big-budget games to guarantee returns
Industry observers note that these pressures have already begun reshaping how games are made, with some studios exploring more streamlined approaches to development.
The Small Team Success Stories
While Amancio’s comments focus on the problems with large teams, the gaming landscape already offers compelling evidence for his thesis. Independent developers and smaller studios have consistently punched above their weight, creating critically acclaimed and commercially successful titles with fraction of the resources their AAA counterparts deploy.
What This Could Mean for Players
If the industry does shift toward smaller development teams as Amancio suggests, players could see several significant changes:
- More experimental and innovative game designs
- Shorter development cycles leading to more frequent releases
- Greater creative risks as smaller teams face less corporate oversight
- Potentially lower game prices as development costs decrease
The Resistance to Change
Despite the logical appeal of Amancio’s argument, the transition away from massive development teams faces substantial obstacles. AAA studios have built entire business models around large-scale production, and the infrastructure investments required for such operations represent significant sunk costs that companies will be reluctant to abandon.
Reports suggest that many industry veterans share Amancio’s concerns about the current trajectory, but changing course requires more than just recognition of the problem. The financial and organizational challenges of restructuring major studios around smaller teams could prove insurmountable for some companies.
A Vision for the Future
Amancio’s perspective represents more than just criticism of current practices—it’s a roadmap for a fundamentally different approach to game development. His vision suggests an industry where creativity and efficiency trump sheer scale, where smaller teams can move quickly and take creative risks that massive productions simply cannot afford.
Whether this vision becomes reality remains to be seen, but the conversation Amancio has sparked reflects growing unease within the industry about the sustainability of current development practices. As development costs continue to spiral and project timelines stretch ever longer, his call for smaller teams may prove prescient rather than merely provocative.
The gaming industry has always been driven by innovation and adaptation. If Amancio is right about the future lying in smaller teams, we may be witnessing the early stages of the next major evolution in how our favorite games are made.