"The Middle Segment Is Simply Dying" — The Last of Us Part II Artist on Industry Stagnation

"The Middle Segment is Simply Dying" — The Last of Us Part II Artist on Industry Stagnation

Character artist Del Walker, who worked on The Last of Us Part II Remastered, STAR WARS Jedi: Survivor, and Apex Legends, stated that the industry is becoming less and less daring. In his opinion, the reason is bloated budgets.

If before, major projects were relatively inexpensive, now a "small" AAA game is considered one that cost less than $100 million. As an example, he cited Grand Theft Auto III. By estimates, its production cost about five million dollars. For comparison, Grand Theft Auto IV already cost many times more (over $100 million), and the budgets for the fifth installment and the upcoming Grand Theft Auto VI are simply hard to comprehend. Nine-figure sums have become the norm for the industry — now a budget of $200-300 million no longer surprises anyone.

Walker believes this model is killing the space for experimentation. Publishers are increasingly betting on known brands or service-based hits with long-term support and aggressive monetization. Racing games, extreme sports titles, and "mid-level" projects are gradually disappearing — not because the audience has fallen out of love with them, but because no one is willing to risk a hundred million without a guarantee of stable profit.

The lack of videogame investment has vanished, but also the amount of investment needed has exploded. GTA3 cost like $5 Million. Today anything under $100m is considered “small” for AAA.

You gonna see a lot less racing games, or extreme sports, or unusual mid level games. Not…

You will see fewer strange mid-budget projects. Fewer risky and creative new franchises. Far fewer two-year "passion projects". Instead, sequels, games with retention and microtransactions, and bloated 80-hour blockbusters are released. At the same time, more games are being released on Steam than ever before, but gamers aren't buying more. Finding something new has become too difficult, and people's attention is limited. Most titles are released and immediately disappear. So yes. The top is becoming gigantic and bloated. The bottom is turning into chaos and noise. The middle segment is simply dying. Del Walker

Interestingly, last year it was mid-budget projects that won gamers' hearts. The main contenders for "Game of the Year" — Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 and Kingdom Come: Deliverance II — can hardly be called AAA. The studios spent less than $50 million on both titles. Yet, the quality of these two RPGs is in no way inferior to blockbusters that cost many times more.