I don’t have any skin in this game. I just wanted to point out that you went from “given how privacy invasive this particular entity is”
To
“… assuming… how little we know… could potentially”
That’s a pretty big leap from a bold and confident assertion that an entity is doing something all the way to saying that entity maybe could be doing something but we don’t know. It’s just a weird logical leap to me, and I felt compelled to mention it.
Not quite. It’s different than movies, because one person can purchase assets. Typically most talented developers aren’t also incredibly talented artists, animators, and composers. There are certainly people out there that could do that, but the same could be said for indie films made by a group of friends in their spare time with licensed music and improvised sound effects.
You can’t just compare a solo indie dev to a feature film like it’s not apples to bananas. Comparing an indie film would be more apt.
I’d say that solo indie dev games would be similar to that one web serial in the early days of YouTube, Marble Hornets, I think it was. It was interesting enough (I only saw bits and pieces personally) that it had a very dedicated fan base, but was made by like.. three friends or something.
Game studios making triple a titles are more comparable to a triple a movie (that’s where AAA comes from - A list actors, A list studio, and A list something else. Triple A games have massive budgets for the same reason movies do. Marketing, voice actors, sound design, composers, animators, developers, project managers, interns, assistants, game designers, etc.
Triple A games also amusingly have directors and producers just like a Hollywood film does. In all honestly, video games are like interactive movies. We’re seeing now the end stages of that imitation with so many blockbuster sqls and nostalgia grabs in both industries.