Ustwo's CEO Says Long-Term Studio Jobs Are Getting Harder, Which Is Bad News for Stable Development Teams

Ustwo's CEO and Ukie chair Maria Sayans has argued that it is becoming less viable for smaller studios to retain long-term employees across multi-year game development cycles, suggesting that more contractor-heavy models may become necessary.

For gamers, this may sound like inside-baseball business talk, but it affects the games people eventually play. Stable teams build institutional memory. They understand tools, tone, design history, player feedback, and why certain creative decisions were made. Contractor-heavy production can be useful and flexible, but it can also make development more fragmented if not managed carefully.

The impact is especially relevant for smaller creative studios making distinctive games like Monument Valley. These games depend on taste, cohesion, and a strong internal culture. If the industry shifts further toward temporary teams, players may see more uneven development, more lost knowledge between projects, and fewer studios able to nurture long-term creative identities.

At the same time, budgets are real and smaller studios are under pressure. This is the uncomfortable truth: the games players love often come from teams whose economic foundations are shakier than the final product suggests.