Matthew Karch, founder of Saber Interactive, has offered some insightful comments regarding the current state of the AAA video game industry. In an interview with Stephen Totilo on a $23 million private jet, Karch suggested that exorbitantly priced AAA games might become obsolete and could be a factor in the recent job losses within the market.
As a gamer, I’m starting to believe that the era of billion-dollar AAA games might soon be phasing out. Frankly, I don’t feel it’s essential nor does it seem right, as expressed by Karch.
The executive added that he thinks the expenses linked to creating expensive video games could potentially account for the numerous job cuts happening in the gaming industry nowadays.
He stated that it’s hard to express exactly, but what seems to have significantly increased job losses is a large budget, typically in the hundreds of millions of dollars.
In 2023, Karch’s Beacon Interactive acquired specific assets from Saber’s parent company, Embracer, during Embracer’s divestiture from their Russian business operations. This marked the formal separation between Karch and Embracer, with Beacon taking over Saber as a result.
Previously, Karch expressed concern about the shrinking number of games being produced due to economic pressures in the video game industry. He noted that the ongoing consolidation within the industry would add to this problem, along with the financial strife and instability the industry has been experiencing. He explained this to GI.biz, stating that teams are trying to regroup but there’s a lack of necessary funding at the moment. As a result, he predicted that the supply of video game content will fall significantly short of what the demand calls for.
Karch has expressed doubts over the $70 cost for games, stating he’d rather not set it so high and finds it nearly unfair. He used Helldivers 2, which debuted at $40 and achieved remarkable success, as an example of a game with a lower price tag. However, Saber launched 2024’s Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 at $70, a price point Karch is skeptical about.
Saber Interactive’s Tim Willits, discussing the success of Space Marine 2, lamented that it’s regrettable when game studios consider a game a failure if it doesn’t reach sales of 5 million units. “In what line of work are we,” he asked, “that you’re considered a failure if you sell fewer than 5 million?
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2025-02-06 00:39