Ex-Bethesda Designer Notes That Current AAA Gaming Model Is “Unsustainable”

It’s very telling that the gaming industry is in such a state that there are many people within it or former leaders of big companies coming forward to talk about the various issues that are plaguing it. We recently heard from former PlayStation head Shawn Layden about the state of AAA gaming and how things rely too much on “big hits.” Then, when companies try to make smaller ones and don’t “get the results they want,” they shut down whole teams, which ticks off many. For the team at Bethesda, they’ve been teetering on the edge for a while due to some bad releases under its umbrella, and one of its former designers is speaking out about that issue.

In a chat with VideoGamer, Bruce Nesmith, who was a designer on many major titles for the publisher, noted that the AAA is currently “Unsustainable” due to the fact that AAA titles are slowly taking longer and longer to create, which inflates the budgets greatly, and requires large-scale sales numbers to recoup costs:

“I see it as unsustainable. I don’t think this is a sustainable model for the industry, and there’s a variety of reasons for it. Simple economics is one. In order to sell a game that you spent six years working on, you have to sell tens of millions of copies. That’s the only way you’re going to recoup your loss. So if it isn’t a big hit, you’re dead.”

That message can apply to numerous titles in recent years, not the least of which is Concord, which allegedly had a budget of $400 million, and those in power behind it refused to change the game even when it was clear it wouldn’t be the hit that they wanted it to be. You could also apply that logic to Starfield, which was a game eight years in the making and became an incredibly divisive title at launch and well afterward. While we don’t know the full cost of that title, it was stated in various articles that it was initially supposed to be $200 million but soon ballooned to $400 million and had over 500 people working on it at one point.

The success of that particular title is up for debate, but you can see from various things that it’s likely not made back that amount, no matter what Bethesda says about it. Plus, even if they did, they made it back on a game that many argue about constantly.

When you add that to what’s happening with companies like Ubisoft, Square Enix, Sony, and Microsoft with all the “swings and misses,” you can see why Nesmith thinks it’s “unsustainable” to keep doing what they’re doing.