"GTA 3 cost like $5 million": Ex-The Last of Us Part 2: Remastered, Star Wars Jedi: Survivor artist says the industry is becoming "less risky and creative" as "anything under $100 million is considered small"

The games industry has been a difficult environment for some years now, with major releases struggling to find their audience and layoffs a recurring theme month to month. Reflecting on the current state of things, a dev who's contributed to the likes of The Last of Part 2: Remastered, Apex Legends, and Highguard, believes a lot of the problems lie in astronomical costs.

Writing on Twitter, Del Walker, a character artist who's also worked on Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League and Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, in addition to the above, points out that we need only look at Rockstar's output for prime examples. "[Grand Theft Auto 3] cost like $5 million. Today anything under $100 million is considered 'small' for AAA," he says.

Estimates do place the overall budget of GTA 3 around the $5 million mark, a tiny fraction of what even GTA 4 wound up costing, never mind the fifth or the upcoming GTA 6. Nine figures has become common for blockbuster games, recent releases Assassin's Creed Shadows and Borderlands 4 both believed to have cost over $100 million.

This, Walker believes, is creating a climate where it's either established IP with large publisher backing, or a rough-and-tumble indie making something for pennies. "You're gonna see a lot less racing games, or extreme sports, or unusual mid-level games," he muses. "Not because people stopped liking them, but because publishers can’t justify burning a hundred million on anything that isn’t mathematically destined to become a live-service monster."

There'll be "less risky and creative" releases or "two-year passion projects," he argues, as "retention machines with skins" and "bloated 80-hour tent pole games" dominate. Meanwhile, there's so much coming to Steam and other stores, it's hard for indies to find air.

"The top gets bigger and bloated. The bottom gets chaotic and noisy. The middle just dies," he states. On the one hand, you could argue that Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 and Arc Raiders run counter to this, mid-level games from younger companies that have enjoyed massive success not using any established licensing, but I think they actually reflect his point.

Arc Raiders managed to become a sensation, but games like Highguard and Splitgate 2 have floundered, proving the rough waters of going live-service right now. Clair Obscur didn't have much comparable competition as a studio debut in the RPG space, and among the notable launches were Oblivion Remastered, Final Fantasy Tactics - The Ivalice Chronicles and Dragon Quest 1 and 2 HD-2D Remake, compounding the notion that established franchises are where money is going.

"Games industry might still make more money. But it’s not really moving forward anymore," Walker finishes. At a time of precariousness, we can only hope things gradually improve.

Highguard was "doomed" on its own merits, says indie games veteran, and "now you have a developer still unable to believe they made a bad game"