Video game developers often re-use materials, assets, and entire game engines from their own previous titles or even entirely different games. This is occasionally bemoaned as “lazy game design,” especially when it is particularly noticeable or seems low effort, but the practice is only becoming more common. Large companies like Ubisoft make a regular practice of sharing assets between its many titles, and Epic Games makes a significant portion of its business by providing smaller companies access to Unreal Engine.
The re-use of everything from sound effects to character models is especially common for indie developers that do not have the resources of larger companies, but even major studios are frequently found creatively recycling material from existing sources. As demand for yearly sequels and ever more impressive graphics technology continues to grow, it certainly makes sense for developers to recycle material where they can, but there are also several reasons that such practices, when done well, are consumer friendly and benefit gamers as well.
Re-using assets in games allows developers to focus their resources on gameplay and story elements rather than building an engine, models, animations, textures, sound effects, and other components from scratch. Using an existing engine and resources cuts down on bug-testing time as well, not just the hours it takes to create the artwork and effects that are ultimately only a groundwork for delivering gameplay. In many cases, that allows studios to cut down on costs that help reduce the retail price of the end product.
Even if the game sells for a full $60 (or more, now that many games appear to be moving toward $70), it still often means that gameplay mechanics can be more finely tuned, or the story can be more fleshed out. This works especially well for direct sequels or spin-off takes on an existing title, because the recognizable assets only add to the sense of familiarity that the developers want to engender in the first place. In cases where re-used assets are put into a game that relates directly or indirectly to the original, the “laziness” of using old material is even less noticeable.
At the same time, the games industry has reached a point of saturation, and established studios have huge budgets to develop their engines and artwork. One developer’s time, passion, and effort is simply not enough for an indie studio to make a game look as good as a AAA studio’s blockbuster title. It can be a direct benefit to stand on the shoulders of giants and hope that, even if players notice re-used materials, they won’t care all that much.
This strategy is often used by massive publishers and developers like EA or Ubisoft, which allow smaller subsidiary studios to use the wealth of resources available to the parent company to make the development process that much easier. It is cost effective, and some may see it as a cynical way to save a quick buck by not providing smaller studios with the manpower needed to create original material, but there is more to it than that. This strategy often allows smaller studios to prove themselves on the merits of their innovative gameplay without worrying about the logistics of being responsible for an all-new engine. From there, they can expand into more ambitious projects.
The games industry is filled with success stories of titles that use material from other games. Star Wars: Squadrons, for one, allowed the fledgling studio EA Motive to cut its teeth on the Frostbite engine used in Star Wars Battlefront 2, ultimately making the best flight combat game in ages. The game is cheaper than a standard title and still has a great story and well-polished gameplay. Because of its success, EA Motive now has plans for several more games that will likely be fully supported by their massive publisher, and will surely expand to a much larger scale.
Arkham Origins is a prime example of how a studio can re-use its own material in a way that is still fresh and new to tell a totally new story. The game takes place in the same Gotham City as its direct predecessor, but the whole map has been re-skinned to reflect a Christmas eve long before the events of the first Batman Arkham game. Batman is younger, behaving more impulsively, and the joyous holiday decorations juxtapose the dark tone of the story. In this case, re-using the same map with a new look was extremely effective because it took something familiar and re-interpreted it to create new meaning and interest for players.
Ubisoft is a developer that does this quite frequently. Not only do many of its games share assets and engines, but they have also re-used entire maps to create wildly different versions of familiar titles. Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon popularized that approach by making a retro-futuristic spinoff of the main game. Far Cry: New Dawn completely re-used and re-skinned Far Cry 5‘s map to make a direct sequel as its own standalone full game. Whether or not that was a good move is up for debate, but it is undeniably an interesting way to continue the story of an open-world game.
Re-used assets can even be used within the same exact game, when models are scaled up or re-skinned to create different enemies or other components. When it’s too noticeable, as with some of Monster Hunter World‘s re-skinned monsters, it can be annoying, but other times it can totally fly under the radar. The best example of assets being used across totally different games is the industry-wide use of Unreal Engine, which Epic games allows other developers to use in exchange for a cut of the profits. The vast breadth of games made with Unreal Engine clearly illustrates how much potential there is in sharing development materials.
Re-using assets can have its downsides, from stagnant game design that makes titles feel too similar to the questionable practice of charging full price for the same map with a new color scheme, but for the most part it results in more good games. Especially as the budgets for AAA games skyrocket into millions of dollars, the ability to piggyback on otherwise unattainable technology will be vital to the survival of smaller studios and subsidiaries of big companies looking to branch out.
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