What AAA Studios Know That Indies Often Learn Too Late

Today marks the global launch of Pudgy Party, the latest release from Mythical Games — and another title powered by Beamable. The adorable penguins are ready for party royale chaos, but behind the scenes there’s a serious lesson every developer should take to heart: scaling live games is hard.

AAA publishers know this. For years, they’ve operated at a scale where backend decisions can make or break a title. Indies, on the other hand, often wait until they’ve already hit traction to think about infrastructure. By then, it’s like trying to rebuild your airplane while it’s mid-flight.
From FIFA Rivals to Star Trek Timelines to Doctor Who: Lost in Time, the studios behind the world’s biggest IPs prepare for scale from day one. Here are three lessons AAA teams internalize early that indies often learn too late.

1. Infrastructure Matters As Much As Gameplay

AAA studios invest heavily in backend infrastructure before launch because they know players won’t forgive downtime. A fun mechanic can win hearts, but if logins fail or progression data disappears, frustration spreads faster than your marketing ever could.
When Mythical launched Pudgy Party globally, they deployed on Beamable’s Private Cloud. That gave their team the confidence to deliver physics-driven fun, costumes, and Web3 integrations — without worrying about server bottlenecks.

2. Iteration Speed Is Survival

The best live games aren’t just launched — they’re constantly evolving. AAA studios build pipelines that let them push updates, new content, and balance tweaks weekly, sometimes daily.
Take The Office: Somehow We Manage. Fans expect new content drops and character updates that bring the world of Dunder Mifflin to life. Without a backend foundation that supports rapid iteration, those updates would stall.

3. Scalability Isn’t Optional

AAA studios assume success. They plan for millions of players from day one, not thousands. Even if the game never reaches those heights, the preparation ensures stability and peace of mind.

When FIFA Rivals hit the App Store charts, scaling wasn’t left to chance. And for Star Trek Timelines, millions of players across six app stores continue to explore the galaxy because the infrastructure was built for the long haul.

Indies often build for the first hundred or thousand players and hope to “worry about scaling later.” But if lightning strikes — your trailer trends, a streamer picks you up, or your game is featured — you can burn through your once-in-a-lifetime moment in a weekend if your backend collapses.

What Indies Can Do Differently

The truth is, indies don’t need AAA budgets to build like AAA. Tools and platforms exist today that let small studios plug in scalable, production-tested infrastructure without months of engineering. That’s exactly why we built Beamable.
Our Unity-native SDKs and extensible services let you launch fast, scale with confidence, and keep your team focused on gameplay — not firefighting. Whether you’re building your first indie hit or your tenth, you deserve the same live-ops foundation AAA studios take for granted.

The Bottom Line

Making a great game gets you noticed. Scaling it keeps you in business. AAA studios know this instinctively because they’ve lived the pain at scale. Indies who learn it early give themselves the best shot at long-term success.

Don’t wait until your servers are melting and your players are walking away. Build for scale now — your future self (and your players) will thank you.