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In game development, every second matters—especially when you're working with massive C++ codebases like Call of Duty. Slow builds can bring development to a crawl, delaying bug fixes, gameplay refinements, and new features. That’s where Build Insights, a powerful profiling tool, comes in. Activision, in collaboration with Xbox’s Advanced Technology Group (ATG), used Build Insights to break down performance bottlenecks, pinpoint inefficiencies, and cut build times by an incredible 50%. By tackling inlining issues, optimizing linker performance, and restructuring massive compilation processes, Activision and Microsoft’s MSVC team made critical changes that not only improved Call of Duty’s development cycle but also benefited other major projects like Fortnite, TensorFlow, and Forza. With Build Insights now integrated into Visual Studio, developers everywhere can take advantage of these optimizations to streamline their own workflows.
Build Time Matters – Cutting just two minutes per build can save over an hour in a single workday, accelerating development cycles.
Build Insights Identified Major Bottlenecks:
Optimizations That Made a Difference:
Impact Beyond Call of Duty – These enhancements also benefited development on Fortnite, Chrome, TensorFlow, and Forza, proving that optimizing build pipelines is critical across industries.
Build Insights in Visual Studio – Now fully integrated, allowing developers to analyze build performance without needing external profiling tools.
Best Practices for Developers:
"We always knew build times were a challenge, but seeing the actual breakdown was eye-opening. Realizing that two files alone were holding up 12% of the entire build? That was a huge ‘aha’ moment." — Rulon Raymond, Senior Director of Technology at Infinity Ward, Activision.
With these insights, game developers can spend less time waiting and more time creating, pushing the boundaries of what’s possible in interactive entertainment. Ready to level up your build performance? Try Build Insights in Visual Studio today! 🎮🚀
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