Slow build times are a major headache for developers, especially in large, complex C++ codebases like game engines. Every minute spent waiting on a build is time that could be used to refine features, resolve issues, or push development forward. Activision faced this challenge with Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II, where prolonged build times were slowing down iteration and impeding workflows. By leveraging Build Insights, they identified key inefficiencies, optimized bottlenecks, and successfully reduced build times from 27:49 minutes to just 14:25 minutes—cutting them in half. Read more about their journey in our detailed breakdown on Microsoft Game Dev.
Build times impact every aspect of development. When builds are slow, valuable engineering time is lost—time that could be spent improving features, optimizing performance, or debugging critical issues. Slow builds also create bottlenecks in our continuous integration pipelines, delaying the verification of every piece of code and content that goes into our games. To keep our development workflow efficient, we need our builds to be as fast as possible, and Build Insights provides that capability to our teams. — Michael Vance, SVP & Fellow Software Engineer, Activision
Through a collaboration between Activision, the Xbox Advanced Technology Group (ATG), and the MSVC team, optimizations were made to force inlining, linker efficiency, and whole-program analysis, leading to dramatic improvements in build performance. These insights not only benefited Call of Duty but also contributed to broader enhancements in MSVC’s LTCG and linker performance, positively impacting other major projects like Fortnite, Chrome, and TensorFlow.
To dive deeper into how these optimizations were achieved and how Build Insights can help your own development workflow, read the full article on How Build Insights Reduced Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II’s Build Times by 50%. You can also check out our YouTube Video, explore our blog post, or dive into our documentation to start optimizing your builds today.
The post Optimizing Build Times with Build Insights: How Activision Cut Call of Duty’s Build Time by 50% appeared first on C++ Team Blog.
