Games like Rematch and Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 last year proved that developers can create big hits and find success with moderately-budgeted projects not running on the power of a billion-dollar publisher. But it's not a sign of things to come, according to Ubisoft veteran Alex Hutchinson.
All the discourse was kicked off by the ever colourful director of Hazelight Studios, Josef Fares, who's no stranger to AA games thanks to his work on Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons and It Takes Two. This week, the Split Fiction boss worried that investors would look at Clair Obscur: Expedition 33's huge success and subsequently go all in on funding AA games.
"But I would not be able to live without a AAA title. I really want to play the blockbuster games. You can't do GTA for $10 million," Fares told The Game Business. "It's important not to get stuck in ideas, like AA is a new thing, or indie is a new thing, or 'blah, blah, blah' is a new thing. We need the diversity."
Former Assassin's Creed director and current Savage Planet lead Alex Hutchinson chimed in on the discussion and put those fears to bed on social media, however.
"If Josef Fares thinks almost any publisher is looking for or willing to fund a mid price AA game right now then he is sadly mistaken," Hutchinson tweeted. "This is the worst the market has been in that category since the early 2000s when Acclaim and others went bust." In a follow up comment, he called the market an "absolute wasteland."
Of course, for every Hollow Knight: Silksong, there's a hundred indie games that fly so under the radar that they might as well be subterranean. And for every Clair Obscur, there's a dozen mid-budget games that can't even secure proper funding. So Josef Fares can rest easy knowing AAA games won't be going out of fashion any time soon, but maybe publishers can spread the love a little wider. More options with games of varying sizes can only be a good thing, after all.
Speaking of, keep an eye out for these upcoming indie games of 2026 and beyond.
