- Most AAA games cost $70 today.
- Saber Interactive, the publisher behind Star Wars KOTOR Remake, follows the same trend but believes these games are unsustainable.
- According to the CEO, the industry will eventually settle for smaller and cheaper games.
With games becoming more ambitious each passing year, development costs are rapidly surging out of control. One solution from publishers was to raise the price to $70, but it seems this was not enough.
Many executives have already warned about budgets getting out of hand, and the Saber Interactive CEO is the latest to offer his thoughts. He believes that $70 games are no longer sustainable.
Why it matters: Developers today are limited by the fear of failure and the risk of studio closures or layoffs due to the focus on big AAA games.
Speaking to IGN in a recent interview, the Saber Interactive CEO described his thoughts on modern gaming, stating that most developers will likely move to lower-cost games to avoid risks.
The $70 title is going to go the way of the dodo. I don’t think it’s sustainable.
-Saber Interactive CEO
He pointed to examples like Ubisoft. After the publisher was unable to meet release windows for its biggest games a few years back, it continues to struggle with poor finances and layoffs.
The Saber Interactive CEO points out that mid-budget games will be the future. He used Helldivers 2 as an example of a solid middle-sized game that offers great production values without going overboard.
Ultimately, he predicts that games will end up cheaper than $70.
Saber Interactive is far from the only one to raise this point. Not too long ago, a Tencent executive stated that AAA teams should stick to well-established IPs to avoid the risk of failure.
Recent releases like Suicide Squad show how wrong things can go for a team after a poor $70 launch.
Meanwhile, indie and AA games are doing better than ever today. Overall, the gaming industry is due for a course correction. Hopefully, this course correction will come naturally without a complete crash.
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