As a seasoned gamer with decades of experience under my belt, I wholeheartedly agree with the sentiments expressed by Toshiro Nagoshi and Björn Pankratz. The era of “ever bigger” games has been a tiresome trend for far too long.
According to game creators like Björn and Jennifer Pankratz from Pithead Studio, as well as Toshiro Nagoshi, who is known for creating the Yakuza series, we may be seeing an end to the trend of ever-increasing game sizes.
Yakuza’s father bets on a smaller world
The former Ryu Ga Gotoku studio developer, who departed three years back, expressed his thoughts in a Famitsu interview (through Automaton Media) concerning his new team’s debut game (Nagoshi Studio): an expansive action-adventure title tailored for mature audiences that isn’t an exact copy of Yakuza, but still one that shouldn’t disappoint fans of the developer. The venture has been under development on Unreal Engine 5 from the get-go.
Nagoshi suggested a shift away from promoting games based on their size, stating that the era of such promotion might be ending. He’s working to make smaller the expansive map of his new studio’s debut project, implying that it’s no longer about making games big but rather about ensuring they are enjoyable. In the gaming industry (particularly outside of Japan), there’s a focus on keeping games compact, as opposed to expanding them to meet certain size requirements, and instead focusing on creating engaging gameplay experiences by defining the player’s role and objectives within the game world.
Not such a big Gothic 2
According to Pankratz, they held a similar viewpoint, having previously developed large-scale games that were intended to be part of a popular trend. In fact, if you examine the marketing strategies for numerous games from the past ten years, you’ll notice that developers often emphasized the expansive game map, an abundance of missions, quests, or additional activities, and the significant time commitment needed to complete the entire game.
Piranha Bytes wasn’t an exception when it came to marketing slogans occasionally straying from reality, as pointed out by Pankratz. For example, the size of Gothic 2 was claimed to be 25 square kilometers according to Stefan Berger, but later it was revealed that the third installment boasted a world three times larger in area.
Supporters have been expressing doubts about its logic, and now Pankratz has validated those concerns: The map for ‘Gothic 2’ was approximately 15 square kilometers in extent. While Risen had a more compact world, Piranha Bytes faced challenges convincing both their publisher and media personnel that this decision was beneficial.
Devs of Risen after Piranha Bytes: “end of big games”
The Pankratz observed that a significant number of individuals are growing weary of these extensive games, for example. Even with each new Assassin’s Creed release expanding in scale, a German duo questioned the number of players who have unlocked all or most of the achievements, effectively experiencing everything these games offer. Ubisoft and Games Radar both pointed out the compact map size of Assassin’s Creed: Shadows and the reduced completion time for AC: Mirage compared to AC: Valhalla.
The Pankratz family finds no fault with Ubisoft’s series overall, but they feel that in Origins, the company struck a good balance with the map scale. However, according to Pithead studio, even in Odyssey, the maps were too expansive for players (which could be exacerbated in Valhalla).
In the case of Two Worlds, as reported by the Germans, there was an issue towards the end where the player had no tasks left, resulting in boredom. As the couple notes, this might have been due to insufficient world-building at first and then not adding content later (which contrasts with Nagoshi’s approach for his upcoming game).
Game pace above all
Instead of offering particular instances, Pankratz highlights a concept that has been commonly mentioned in recent times: vast expanses of uncultivated land, often deserts (not to be confused with Death Stranding’s narrative, as they argue the game’s entire premise revolves around this idea and that is why it’s effective).
Consequently, what truly matters is not whether it’s large or small, but rather finding the appropriate rhythm: crafting an environment where there isn’t an excess of open spaces, and where events or quests don’t appear too frequently.
Absolutely, a great deal hinges on the specific game. While roaming around open spaces such as deserts can offer enjoyable moments, it’s possible that for another type of game, a large and expansive world might not be essential.
Essentially, Nagoshi and Pankratz suggest that developers should refrain from artificially constructing expansive universes. Instead, they recommend evaluating the essence of a project, identifying its unique qualities, and selecting a map size that optimally supports the gaming experience.
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2024-11-12 17:02