Though it makes sense that 1000 people on one component is an unrealistic estimate, your logic here is a caricature. How many different groups of people are, for instance, involved in a single game title? Similar dynamics in chip production: you have design teams, verification teams, tools teams, and support staff for 3-4 levels of functionality.
And that's before you start picking apart the system-on-a-chip stuff, which involves design and verification for all the components that the processor talks to, and tooling, layout, &c.
Comments
Though it makes sense that 1000 people on one component is an unrealistic estimate, your logic here is a caricature. How many different groups of people are, for instance, involved in a single game title? Similar dynamics in chip production: you have design teams, verification teams, tools teams, and support staff for 3-4 levels of functionality.
And that's before you start picking apart the system-on-a-chip stuff, which involves design and verification for all the components that the processor talks to, and tooling, layout, &c.