The AAA game model is regularly called into question: endless development times, skyrocketing budgets, sometimes limited profitability…
During an interview with Game Developer, Meghan Morgan Juinio spoke on this topic. During her career, she spent 10 years at Santa Monica Studio and was notably the producer on God of War Ragnarök. During the interview, she encouraged studios to explore other avenues by investing in lower-budget projects.
“I also think there’s an opportunity for these big players to diversify into the double-A and single-A sectors, and maybe even the indie sector.
I think gamers today are a little desensitized to beautiful graphics, size, scale, and scope [of AAA games]. It’s almost a given. If a game isn’t fun, it doesn’t matter how beautiful it is. If it’s not captivating or doesn’t offer a certain hook, it won’t spark players’ interest.”
Juinio mentions Astro Bot and Split Fiction as examples of titles from major publishers (Sony and EA) that focus on creativity rather than visuals, which doesn’t mean these two games aren’t graphically impressive.
