Is AAA gaming past its peak? Are extremely expensive and elaborate games like Genshin Impact or Cyberpunk 2077 a thing of the past? Yes, they are, according to Mark Karch. He is the CEO of Saber Interactive and has just scored a hit on Steam with Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 , but at a low price.
This is the thesis: The head of Saber Interactive said in an interview (via gamefile):
I believe the era of AAA games that cost 200 million $, 300 million $, or 400 million $ is coming to an end. It’s not necessary, it’s not appropriate.
I don’t know how to put it best… but I think: If anything has contributed to so many people losing their jobs, it is the budgets in the several hundred million $ range.
AA+ games are much cheaper than AAA, costing only a quarter
What is the alternative for him? He sees his own game “Space Marine 2” as an example of how it can be done.
Such games can be made for a quarter of the budget of an AAA title. Some might say that this is not AAA, but AA+, but still. It is a solid game and much cheaper than what others pay.
Focus on the core and eliminate the unnecessary
Why is the game so much cheaper? In an interview with IGN, the chief creative of Saber, Tim Willits, explained:
- For Space Marine 2, a focus is placed on the central gameplay loop
- You must focus on the elements that make up the core experience. For Space Marines, these are melee combat, ranged combat, and swarms
- Other games make the mistake of broadening their games too much and getting sidetracked. There should be this or that element added, but then you lose focus on what’s essential, on what is fun.
According to Tim Willits, it’s about focusing on the essentials and doing that as well as possible.
What Willits does not mention, but which surely helps: Many successful games today are no longer being developed in the densely populated areas of the USA, where wages are high, but are being developed in low-wage countries, where the work is often “outsourced”.
5 games that were extremely expensive to develop
Which games would no longer exist? If the CEO is right and studios stop betting on games with a budget of 100 million $ and above, such games would be a thing of the past:
- Genshin Impact – Production costs about 900 million $
- Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War – Production costs about 700 million $
- Cyberpunk 2077 – Production costs about 441 million $
- Red Dead Redemption 2 – Production costs about 450 million $
- Marvel’s Spider-Man 3 – Production costs about 385 million $
What’s behind this: The problem with the extremely high costs is that games then need to achieve incredibly high sales numbers to avoid being a flop. Therefore, players are designed as big and broad as possible to reach many. But that doesn’t seem to work, as some gigantic flops have recently proven. It dilutes the uniqueness and signature of a game when trying to appeal to a maximum wide audience.
Furthermore, successful players from recent years are no longer disappearing but are binding their players long-term. This makes it even harder for extremely expensive games to recoup their production costs. Because even a game like Genshin Impact, which was released in 2020, still has thousands of players today. Even Baldur’s Gate 3 captivates tens of thousands: New MMORPGs can only dream of this: The role-playing game keeps its fans entertained on Steam for 1 year stable
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