IO Interactive's Quest for Accelerated Game Development

When Ulas Karademir rejoined IO Interactive as its chief technology officer, he found a company that had undergone significant transformations since his departure in 2014. The studio, now independent with multiple locations, is working on various projects including Hitman, a fantasy game, and a James Bond title. Karademir's primary objective is to enhance the developer's technology, focusing on production-related aspects such as dev ops, infrastructure modernization, and software development capabilities to make production cheaper, faster, and better. He emphasizes the importance of rapid iteration, citing the need to quickly test and refine game development. To achieve this, IO Interactive is creating tools to speed up and automate parts of the process, leveraging its Glacier engine to build tailored solutions for its specific needs. Karademir notes that while using one's own technology offers numerous advantages, including the ability to make swift decisions and adapt to changing requirements, it may not be the best approach for all studios, particularly those in the early stages of their journey. For IO Interactive, however, its unique gameplay requirements, such as complex AI systems in Hitman, necessitate custom-built solutions. The studio's approach involves continuous engine updates, allowing for seamless integration of new features and improvements. As the gaming industry shifts towards live service games, Karademir stresses the need for engineering teams to adopt a more platform-engineering and dev ops-minded approach, incorporating new tools like AI to automate repetitive tasks and enhance user-centricity. Ultimately, he believes AI has the potential to remove unnecessary repetitive work from development, streamlining processes like testing and code analysis, and enabling developers to focus on more creative and innovative aspects of game development.