Saber Interactive co-Founder Matthew Karch, who recently reacquired the company from Embracer Group via Beacon Interactive, shared his thoughts that “AAA development has become very risky.”
A screenshot from Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 (2024), Saber Interactive
In an interview with IGN following the sale of Saber Interactive to Beacon Interactive, Karch commented on the state of AAA gaming, “In general, I would say that AAA development has become very risky. And that’s where Saber is different. Saber, I believe, can create AAA, but not at a AAA budget.”
Later in the interview, Karch discussed the current $70 price point for PlayStation 5 and Xbox X|S games, “I think that as games become more expensive to make, the $70 title is going to go the way of the dodo [bird]. I do. I just don’t think it’s sustainable…Look, you remember the hype for Cyberpunk, which I think actually ultimately performed okay, but when the expectations are so high and so much money is put into one title, it’s hugely risky for the company that’s doing it. What if it fails?”
A screenshot from Evil Dead: The Game (2023), Saber Interactive
He then brought up Ubisoft, “You remember what happened when Ubisoft a couple of years ago, all their titles slipped out of the year, and then all of a sudden they were in an entirely different place? It’s hard to recover from that.”
“I think the market is going to shift to development which is not necessarily lower quality, but there’s going to be an emphasis on trying to find ways to reduce costs,” he asserted.
A screenshot from World War Z (2021), Saber Interactive
According to IGN’s Rebekah Valentine, Karch also discussed that AI will likely reduce costs and potentially improve quality. However, he believes this is the tip of the iceberg for AAA video game development. Valentine wrote, “He believes that AAA game development is going through a major shift, a reckoning of sorts, and that the ongoing trends of sky-high budgets and years upon years of development aren’t sustainable. And if Karch is right, he’s eager for Saber to step in and conquer the market.”
Karch explained why he’s optimistic that Saber will be able to dominate the market, ““I think that there’s going to be a real shortage of game content over the coming few years. You’ve seen how many layoffs there’s been, you see how many games have gotten killed. But we have a lot of good projects going on that I’m proud of and that I feel really, really strongly about.”
A screenshot from Jurassic Park Survival (TBA), Saber Interactive
Not only is AAA development becoming risky due to its massive budgets and potential lack of return, but many gamers are actively boycotting AAA games. Most notably Brazilian gamer KabrutusRambo created a Steam curator list for all games that consultancy Sweet Baby Inc. has worked on. The list, for all intents and purposes, is a boycott list and includes a number of AAA games including Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, Gotham Knights, Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn, and more.
The list currently has over 367,000 followers.
A screenshot of the Sweet Baby Inc. Detected Steam curator list
On top of this list former World of Warcraft Team Lead Mark Kern called for a moratorium of all AAA video game purchases for two years.
He posted on X, “Calling on all game[r]s to NOT buy any AAA titles for the next 2 years that do this. Play your Steam backlog. You will send a very clear message.”
He added, “Lara Croft did nothing wrong, and does not need fixing.”
Calling on all games to NOT buy any AAA titles for the next 2 years that do this.
Play your steam backlog.
You will send a very clear message.
Lara Croft did nothing wrong, and does not need fixing. https://t.co/Plg9wbOFK4
— Grummz (@Grummz) April 9, 2024
What do you make of Karch’s comments about AAA development becoming “very risky?”
AAA gaming from the West that’s not an annualised title like CoD? Certainly questionable returns and evidently so with so many studios going under or firing staff. Japanese AAA however is still going very strong. Recently played RE:Village and this game beats most Western AAA games in every metric from music to dialogue to visuals. Most other Japanese titles are also not yet infected with woke messaging and on top of already great game qualities, they will stand the test of time.
I think AA games will continue to be where many people will spend their time and money. There are a lot of stinkers and it’s already somewhat affected by the Woke but these studios straight up can’t afford bombs and try to hide it or minimise it. Most also don’t bother with it knowing it’ll alienate most customers. I think once AAA crashes which will happen soon, studios will pull back on the divisive messaging and cut out the activists which will reduce their budgets as well. Once that happens we’ll be back to not worrying about politics in games and can focus only on what makes games fun in the first place such as great storytelling, gameplay and great music.