Split Fiction Boss Hopes AA Games Don’t Take Over The Industry Completely

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Sandfall’s RPG, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, was a surprising success in 2025. Made with a small team and a budget of under $10 million, and sold for less than $70, it’s become an example of how a ‘AA’ game – a project smaller than a typical blockbuster – can still become popular. While this approach worked for Expedition 33, Josef Fares, head of Hazelight Studios, believes it’s important for the gaming industry to continue supporting large-scale, high-budget ‘AAA’ games and not focus solely on smaller, less expensive titles.

Following the success of games like Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, there’s a lot of talk about smaller, independent games becoming dominant. However, I still need big-budget, ‘AAA’ games in my life. I really enjoy playing those large, blockbuster titles – you simply can’t create a game like Grand Theft Auto with a $10 million budget. We need both types of games to thrive.

Fares emphasized the need to avoid rigid thinking. He cautioned against believing that concepts like ‘AA’ or ‘indie’ are recent developments, urging people to recognize they’ve existed for a while.

We need a variety of games. I hope publishers don’t see a successful game like Expedition and assume that only similar, mid-budget titles will work. I don’t think that’s a good approach,” he explained.

Fares pointed out that while Expedition 33 did well, many other games released in 2025 didn’t gain much attention. He emphasized that a lot of those games were largely ignored by players.

The interviewer pointed out that when projects have larger budgets, decision-makers often become more cautious, wanting to ensure they see a return on their investment and therefore choosing safer options. Fares disagreed, arguing that companies like Naughty Dog, Rockstar, and Nintendo are famous for taking creative risks even with huge budgets.

As a fan, it’s awesome to hear that developers can still aim high with huge, blockbuster games and try new things. But honestly, once the budget hits nine figures – over $100 million – things get scary! It’s like, everyone suddenly gets super cautious because there’s so much money invested. It makes sense, but it’s good to know that taking those risks can actually pay off!

Hazelight Studios has been increasing its game budgets with each new title. For instance, their game Split Fiction had nearly twice the funding of It Takes Two. However, despite the growing costs, Hazelight’s games are generally considered to be mid-range, or ‘AA,’ titles.

Alexandre Amancio, who led creative efforts on Assassin’s Creed Unity and Revelations, recently stated that the way big-budget (AAA) games are made is flawed. He believes simply adding more people to a project isn’t the solution, and that smaller development teams could be the key to the future of AAA gaming.

Hazelight Studios is currently developing a new game, though details haven’t been revealed yet. All of their games to date have focused on cooperative gameplay – with the exception of ‘Brothers,’ which had a unique co-op feature. While co-op is central to Hazelight’s identity, the studio isn’t completely opposed to exploring single-player experiences. According to Fares, they might consider a single-player game in the future, but it would still be distinctly Hazelight in its approach and wouldn’t be a standard, typical single-player title.

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2026-01-13 19:40