Industry shifting away from blockbuster to aaa model, believes Splinter Cell: Blacklist director

By: Muhammad Qasim Hassan

  |   November 6th, 2012   |  

Uncategorized

Splinter Cell: Blacklist director believes that the gaming industry will be moving away from blockbuster titles to games with more systemic depth in the not-so-distant future.

Gamesindustry.biz reported that while attending the Gamercamp festival in Toronto, Patrick Redding stated that he sees the era of AAA titles to coming to an end and expects it to be replaced by a newer game model.

He explained that this new model will lay down more emphasis on systemic depth instead of focusing on the graphics, production values and content creation.

With the priorities expected to change, developers working on renowned and well-established franchises will find themselves tested as they will have to come out of their comfort zone and start thinking along the lines of new model.

Redding further went on to note that with the AAA model fading out and arrival of model that would put systemic depth on highest priority, relatively smaller game creators will find themselves with a perfect opportunity to make their presence felt and compete with big studios that have more resources at their disposal as well as a renowned brand to hold on to.

“The market as a whole is going to undergo a critical shift in priorities, a shift away from the absolute primacy of graphics and production values and content creation toward systemic depth,” Redding said, adding, “This trend is going to trigger a reality check for developers like me who work on established franchises with a large succession of sequels, and it’s also going to be a call-to-arms for smaller game creators, including a number of people who are sitting in this room, I hope.”

Referring to games based on the newer model as aaa titles, the Splinter Cell: Blacklist director said that the development of such games and shift in priorities will be triggered due to the role of procedurally literate players, while also mentioning digital distribution and a rise in the cost of production as integral factors.

According to Redding, the aaa titles will be much more open-ended than the existing games, giving players a greater degree of freedom in deciding how they want to play the game and thus coming across different outcomes instead of being asked to discover the single right way of playing the game and beating it.

Redding regarded Minecraft as a perfect example of a game based on the model that he expects to become dominant in the near future.

Commenting on the latest title in the Splinter Cell series that is expected to come out in spring next year, Redding conceded that the game still remains a blockbuster, though it will notably feature some aaa elements.

Do you think systemic depth is the future of video games instead of graphics, content creation and production value? Share your views with us in the comments section below.