The complexity of creating modern AAA games is growing at a tremendous rate

The complexity and high cost of developing modern AAA-class games is gradually leading developers to a dead end and a big crisis.

Pavel Sasko, senior quest director of CD Projekt RED studio, shared this opinion during a conversation with PC Gamer.

In particular, Sasko commented on the publication of PC Gamer about the technical difficulties that developers face when trying to integrate various systems into modern AAA-class RPGs.

The journalists came to the conclusion that cinematic role—playing games in the style of BioWare can die, because for various reasons they become very conservative - any risks are associated with increased costs, and publishers in general are afraid to take risks.

On the other hand, cheaper to produce, but very inventive games like Disco Elysium seem like a breath of fresh air.

The developer agreed with the arguments presented in the material and noted that right now large studios are "rushing towards the wall", a collision with which it seems inevitable to him.

"Almost everyone who has read this material will be able to agree with the arguments presented in it. At least if we are talking about the AAA development industry.

We are rushing towards the wall, and a collision with it is waiting for us very soon," Pavel Sasko said.

The quest director, who had a hand in the release of Cyberpunk 2077 and The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, noted that the complexity of creating modern games is growing at a tremendous rate, and many studios simply cannot keep up with this dynamic.

Comparing The Witcher 3 and Cyberpunk 2077, Sasko noted that the banal change of camera perspective from third to first person required the CD Projekt RED team to significantly increase investment and time in working out all aspects of the Cyberpunk 2077 visual presentation.

Having changed the perspective, the studio lost the opportunity to use the old "tricks" and had to rebuild everything.

Against this background, the cost of developing side quest lines has seriously risen in price.

As an alternative example, Sasko noted the success of Disco Elysium, which successfully included many scenes and mutually exclusive scenarios, which the developers achieved thanks to an isometric perspective and a focus on textual descriptions as opposed to direct visualization of scenario material.

Recall that CD Projekt is currently working on several new projects at once, including the next game in The Witcher line and a full-fledged sequel to Cyberpunk 2077.