The development team of Steam Deck is only more than 40 people, and the size of the V club is not as large as that of 3A studio.
V club is small and sophisticated, with far fewer employees than large game companies
According to newly disclosed legal documents, V Club has far fewer employees than well-known game companies such as Ubisoft and EA, and even fewer than some AAA studios. According to the document, V Club consists of four components: management, games, Steam and hardware.
In 2021, the company had fewer than 340 employees, 79 of whom were working on Steam, and 181 in the gaming department, which can be described as "huge". On the eve of the launch of Steam Deck, only 41 people were working on the development of the hardware, while 35 people were working on the administrative business of the company.
The headcount prompted criticism from Wolfire Games, the antitrust plaintiff, that the company's investment in Steam, a global platform, was not proportional to its revenues, after former employees said in interviews that the company's "flat" structure hurt employees.
However, despite the small team size, V Club's work efficiency is impressive. A team of less than 80 people successfully managed the global giant Steam platform, and dozens of people developed the Steam Deck that changed the handheld industry. This fully demonstrates V Club's excellent ability in team management and product development.