Unity CEO: “The cost of building a game is coming down markedly

What the report says

Listen now on Apple, Spotify or YouTubeIn This Edition,Unity CEO Matthew Bromberg on…Falling development costsHis positive outlook for the businessThe AI ‘threat’Plus, East vs West, the console sector, Epic Games and moreLast month, Unity CEO Matthew Bromberg took to the stage at the firm’s Unite conference in Seoul.I watched his speech ahead of our interview, and I was struck by how positive it was. In the midst of studio closures, lay-offs, price rises and frustrated players, it was a refreshing listen.“There is no question there’s been a tremendous amount of dislocation in our business and a lot of studios are retrenching,” Bromberg tells me.

“It’s important to recognize that. We’re clearly in this moment of transition that is causing some pain.“But I am absolutely 100% optimistic about the future. Having been doing this for some time, I’ve never spent a year in this business where people aren’t prone to doom and gloom. But the demand is not going anywhere. Human beings love interactive entertainment, and they love playing, and there is no evidence that there is some degradation in that desire.”Beyond the simple fact that ‘people like games’, Bromberg is seeing a shift in how they’re being made.“Although there’s all this disruption, the cost of building a game is coming down markedly.

And that will continue. In my mind, there has never been a better time for independents to get together and make something extraordinary. I said that in Seoul. It used to be that the amount of resource you had to pour into something was the single biggest driver of whether or not you can be successful. Not that there weren’t lots of very high-profile flame outs, but the barrier was, ‘can I get 100, 200, 300 people together to do something? And can I pay for that for five years?’ That world is on the verge of changing radically.“As a consequence, for those who are able to use the tools to take the power back in a way that creates opportunity for themselves and creates great art and entertainment for others, those folks are in a really great spot.”Bromberg says that new platforms, like Netflix and Switch 2, are emerging.

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The platform economics on mobile are improving. And better games are on the way.“The last few years was a period of optimization around known models and gameplay modalities, and that created a kind of sameness and sequelization, both literally and metaphorically,” he continues. “And it led to a disconnect between a lot of the major games that came out and how players received them. There was a lot of failure in that disconnect. But it’s hard to make hit games. It always has been and always will be. We will make great games, we’ll make them on new platforms, more people will make them than before, and everything will be fine.”In today’s bumper edition of The Game Business Show, we chat to Bromberg about Unity’s turnaround, his approach to leadership, the AI ‘threat’, in-game ads, the future of consoles, Netflix, Unity’s friendship with Epic, the rise of China and Korea, and a whole lot more.I’ve selected some of my favourite bits below.

Alternatively, catch the entire chat via the links above.Sponsor MessageGame-led creative productionKeywords Studios is the games industry’s end-to-end partner, with 13,000 people across 26 countries helping studios build, launch and support games at global scale. Supercharged by technology and shaped by long-term partnership, Keywords Studios connects specialist expertise around the player experience.For global campaigns, that means creative production built around games and the audiences who play them. From trailers and key art to virtual production, campaign content and launch assets, Keywords Studios helps studios create content that understands the game, respects the audience and drives meaningful player connection.The secret to turning around a business?

Don’t be afraidThree years ago, Unity was in trouble, not just from a business stand-point but also in the eyes of its clients who had lost trust in the firm following its controversial runtime fee plans (which it later cancelled).Bromberg joined in 2024, and things have improved significantly since. In fact, it just delivered its best ever financial quarter.The Unity CEO has been involved in these moments before.