Ubisoft: Monster AAA Games Dying Out
Assassin's Creed IIIFew game makers have the resources to pursue mega-blockbuster projects like Assassin's Creed III, and there are fewer every year.
In speaking to Edge, Ubisoft creative director Alex Hutchinson said his team is "the last of the dinosaurs" and the way the industry is going, huge AAA projects will soon be dead.
"We're the last of the dinosaurs. We're still the monster triple-A game with very large teams [and] multiple studios helping out on different bits. There are fewer and fewer of these games being made, especially as the middle has fallen out."
Earlier this year, Hutchinson was quoted as saying that games with massive budgets are starting to become "cancerous growths" and at some point, they'll just disappear. The amount of time and money involved is just through the roof, and with the next generation upon us, it'll cost even more to develop for new hardware. So what can designers do? Well, at this rate, who knows? Predicting the future is dicey...
Tags: assassins creed iii, ubisoft, aaa games, gaming industry
9/5/2012 8:51:04 PM Ben Dutka
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Comments (12 posts)
bloody_rootz
Wednesday, September 05, 2012 @ 9:48:00 PM
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2 up, 0 down
Doppel
Wednesday, September 05, 2012 @ 10:50:15 PM
2 up, 2 down
Looking Glass
Wednesday, September 05, 2012 @ 10:01:11 PM
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They can start making good games on smaller budgets. I think it's safe to say that we all know this can be done and indeed has been done before.
0 up, 0 down
WorldEndsWithMe
Wednesday, September 05, 2012 @ 10:23:18 PM
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WorldEndsWithMe
Wednesday, September 05, 2012 @ 10:31:16 PM
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I think that, going forward, there has to be internal reforms and budget management. Artistic vision must be kept intact, but to let a game out the door that will cause your studio to die if you don't hit 3 million in sales is just irresponsible to begin with.
The teams don't need to be that large either, Naughty Dog does amazing things with a relatively small team. Obviously something as LARGE as Assassin's Creed needs a bigger team, but CoD for instance is absolutely bloated.
I think AAA games set the standard, they are an investment in the future, they push new standards, and the only cancerous growths are games released yearly.
3 up, 0 down
Temjin001
Wednesday, September 05, 2012 @ 10:56:48 PM
0 up, 0 down
Qubex
Thursday, September 06, 2012 @ 5:18:13 AM
I believe that games will become procedural though, in that part of the cost solution is having an intelligence engine that build out the game procedurally... the more yo play and purchase the more the game expands and builds out on its own...
Q!
"play.experience.enjoy"
0 up, 0 down
Dancemachine55
Wednesday, September 05, 2012 @ 11:27:02 PM
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There will always be AAA titles on any platform, no matter how powerful or photo-realistic the graphics and physics are.
Once an engine is released that takes care of the light shaders, particle effects, motion blur, movement physics and AI, all developers have to do is apply their art to that engine, fine tune it and make it shine.
It's the development of the engine that takes ages and is difficult to code.
Assassin's Creed III will not be the last AAA game we'll see. Not by a long shot. Unreal Engine 4, Crytek Engine 3, Frostbite 2 and Luminous will ensure AAA games will still exist.
Then there's Uncharted 4.... (daydreams about the prettiness)
1 up, 0 down
Coffeya
Thursday, September 06, 2012 @ 3:56:23 PM
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0 up, 0 down
Nickjcal
Saturday, September 08, 2012 @ 9:56:31 PM
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0 up, 0 down
firesoul453
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Wednesday, September 05, 2012 @ 9:36:39 PM
I'd like to think it was proven wrong.
Maybe we'll have to wait a bit for the tools to make up for the higher complexity, but I hope we haven't reached the limit.