Every year, video games seem to get increasingly larger, but that makes us wonder: are they also getting better? Despite the increasing size and beauty of games with modern technology, the industry is consistently hit by waves of layoffs, game cancellations, and studio closures, so it’s no wonder many are speculating we may be at an impasse.
The former co-head of Santa Monica Studio, Meghan Morgan Juinio, has explained in an interview with gamedeveloper.com that the games industry isn’t just stagnant, but possibly in an ongoing freefall. Despite working for a studio crafting extensive AAA experiences like God Of War Ragnarok, it may be getting harder and harder for studios to pull off such big games.
And most notably, she thinks it’s going to take a special breed of video games to save us from this ongoing failure within the industry. Specifically, the AA and indie titles that big publishers may be forgetting about often display the exact types of innovation the industry will need for future success.
At first, she explains how there’s an “opportunity right now for all of us, at any level, to really look at the strategic long-term view.” Ultimately, it comes down to the fact that games are getting so big that it’s impossible for them to fail without financially burdening developers and studios alike.
Partially, she blames this on many of the “‘seize the moment’ type decisions that came out of the pandemic,” where studios decided suddenly, at one of the industry’s most rampant times of growth, that it was time to push the pedal to the metal and make something legacy-defining.
But, looking at the past few years of game development, it’s hard to view the massive success of AAA game titles without looking at the failures that seem to taint the genre. When games like Concord fail, and established franchises like Halo Infinite fall to the wayside, it becomes harder to believe that new and old AAA experiences are an instant key to success.
So, Morgan Juinio explains how suddenly “there is an opportunity for those big players to also look to diversify into double-A and single-A, and then perhaps indie as well,” a diversification that can save the industry by bringing sweeping innovation at a fraction of the cost.
Why Games Like Astro Bot Are The Key To Industry Success
Looking at smaller AA titles like Astro Bot, Morgan Juinio expresses the core way to break out of our current doom cycle is that studios “have to make great video games.” The simple logic is that when great video games are being made, no matter the scale, people will play them.
Astro Bot is the shining example of that principle. When it came out, despite being a relatively unsuspecting 3D platformer, the absolute quality and passion on display was impossible to ignore, establishing it as one of the PS5’s most defining titles in recent years. It didn’t need to be a massive, ultra-realistic AAA title to get the success it deserved.
Morgan Juinio went on to explain that “gamers right now are a little bit desensitized to beautiful graphics and size and scale and scope… If a game isn’t fun, it doesn’t matter how pretty it is. If a game isn’t engaging or delivering some hook, then it’s not going to connect with players.”
That’s where the power of AA and indie games comes to light. When games are made with smaller budgets, with more room for failure and growth, no promise of being the perfect game ever made, the teams can begin to experiment, and that’s where true innovation in the industry is derived from.
If a game isn’t engaging or delivering some hook, then it’s not going to connect with players.
So, even though the games industry is hit with a continuing cycle of layoffs and defeat, it’s in Morgan Juinio’s eyes that, even though the cycle may never come to a complete stop, at the very least, it’s in our own power to make games that push us to a better future.
Although it’s not currently known what exactly will pull us out of this ongoing spiral, she still believes “it’s going to be something new.” It will be “the power of creativity and innovation in our industry” to take us there.
- Released
-
September 6, 2024
- ESRB
-
E10+ For Everyone 10+ Due To Crude Humor, Fantasy Violence
- Developer(s)
-
Team Asobi
- Engine
-
Proprietary Engine
