Atomfall dev doesn’t understand how massive development teams manage to keep organised: “How do you organize a game that has 2,000 people working on it?”

Assassin’s Creed Shadows isn’t the only big open-world game on the block this month; Atomfall launches the following week. Although the two couldn’t be more different, with the British post-apocalypse title having more in common with Fallout and Stalker than anything, giving players the freedom to kill any NPC in the game if they want to. However, Atomfall developer Rebellion’s boss isn’t quite sure how the likes of Ubisoft’s approach to development works.

Speaking to PC Gamer, Rebellion CEO Jason Kingsley said, “how do you organize a game that has 2,000 people working on it?” Adding, “I mean, just the level of organization must be mind-numbing. We’ve got layers of organization. We’ve got producers, and we’ve got leads, and we’ve got discipline leads. But they must have several layers above that, of people who are in charge of the people who are in charge of the people.”

Assassin’s Creed Shadows is being led by Ubisoft Quebec but has a staggering 17 other studios working on it according to the game’s website, Kingsley didn’t name-drop any specific games or studios, but Ubisoft’s games definitely fit the bill.

Kingsley isn’t throwing shade at bigger studios or anything, in fact, he seems very impressed by it. “It must be thrilling and exciting and massive, because they cost a fortune, and they’re incredibly beautiful pieces of work. But sometimes they’re so damn big.” Although Rebellion is no slouch either in the staff department, with its website claiming that it employs “over 475 people.” And that ‘about us’ page still lists 2022’s Sniper Elite 5 as upcoming, so there’s a chance the studio has grown since then.

In the same interview, Kingsley told PC Gamer that “sometimes we say, guys, this game’s too big,” when asked about how the studio had managed to avoid layoffs. Rebellion showed a masterclass in reusing what works earlier this year when it released Sniper Elite: Resistance, which is built on Sniper Elite 5 to create an entirely new game.

Atomfall designer Ben Fisher recently told GamesRadar+ that the studio doesn’t mind the endless comparisons to Fallout, since the two games share a similar atmosphere.