Aim smaller, as long as the experience remains pleasant
Instead of always aiming bigger, maybe we need to think smaller. This is what Meghan Morgan Juinio tells Game Developer during an interview at Gamescom Asia, where the ex-employee of Santa Monica Studio says that even if there is obviously an interest in continuing the big AAAs like God of War and company, the studios in charge of these projects would benefit from developing AA games, or even titles with a little less budget :
“ I also think there’s an opportunity for these big players to branch out into double-A and single-A games, and perhaps independents as well. What size, what shape does it take? I don’t know […] but I think we need to look beyond the knee-jerk reaction to the pandemic and the two years that followed and think seriously about who we want to be? What type of product do we want to offer? »
This would also help to offer games sold at lower prices.and it doesn’t matter if this has to be done by sacrificing the technical part, which would matter less to the public today (which is not really shown by the reactions around the last Pokemon Today) :
“ The shape doesn’t matter. I think today’s gamers are a bit desensitized to beautiful graphics, size, scale and scope. It’s almost obvious, right? If a game isn’t fun, it doesn’t matter how cool it is. If it isn’t captivating or engaging, it won’t resonate with players.. »
But it is true that AAA studios do not always need to create games worth more than $200 million, and that there is undoubtedly an economy of resources to be achieved by alternating between certain scales. Whether or not the public is receptive to the approach remains to be proven.