Activision, the developers of the renowned video game franchise “Call of Duty,” have managed to slash their build time in half by utilizing Microsoft Visual Studio (MSVC) Build Insights. This success underlines the power of cutting-edge tools and development strategies in the field of game development.
The necessity of efficiently managing mass files and complex build code pipelines is not a secret in the game development industry. Large studios frequently enough grapple with extensive build times due to the sheer volume and complexity of code that needs to be compiled. This slows down the development process, hinders rapid iterations, and can lead to unwanted delays and escalated costs.
The invaluable utility of MSVC Build Insights came into prominence when Activision faced the challenge of handling vast amounts of code in the build process for their flagship game, Call of Duty.As one of the most anticipated annual releases, the team at Activision continually strives for the best performance and graphical fidelity. To achieve this, they depend on a huge codebase, wich creates a build bottleneck when putting together the final game.
The primary function of MSVC Build Insights is to aid developers in understanding and optimizing their build pipeline. It provides deeper insights into the build process and allows developers to discern and address bottlenecks, underutilized hardware, and co-dependencies in the code. Using the insights and performance analysis provided by the tool,Activision was able to identify parallelism inefficiencies in their build process and take appropriate measures to resolve them.
As a result of using MSVC Build insights, Activision effectively reduced their build times by a whopping 50%. This significantly expedited the game development cycle, allowing for more frequent iterations, debugging, and testing. This reduction in build times has a direct impact on the productivity of developers and the overall production schedules for game releases.
This success story from Activision serves as evidence of the transformative potential offered by MSVC Build Insights. It exemplifies the tool’s value to game developers or any software professional looking to improve their build process and overall pipeline management. As we move further into the era of advanced technology and complex code structures, tools like MSVC Build Insights are likely to become more crucial in software development.
Activision’s achievement highlights that integration of robust tools like MSVC Build Insights into the build process is no longer a luxury, but a necessity.By doing due diligence in pipeline optimization, companies can achieve higher productivity, reduce waste, realize cost savings, establish better workflows, and most importantly, deliver their products on time without compromise on quality.