Fallout and RPG veteran Josh Sawyer says most players don't want games "6 times bigger than Skyrim or 8 times bigger than The Witcher 3"

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Sawyer says most players, including himself, aren't "concerned with finishing games" either

Skyrim
(Image credit: Bethesda)

Folks, RPG veteran Josh Sawyer has made it official: games are too dang long these days... or, at the very least, games as big as Skyrim and The Witcher 3 don't really need to be any bigger.

I've been going on about games being too big for years now, so I've been glad to see several industry figures echo that sentiment. Last month, ex-PlayStation boss Shawn Layden argued 100-hour giants are unsustainable, and a "mismatch" for today's players anyway. Just a few days ago, former Bethesda veteran and Starfield lead quest designer Will Shen said "people are fatigued" with huge games, and now Sawyer is preaching the good word too.

"Some players really need to finish the game but I would say most players, including myself, I'm not that concerned with finishing games," Sawyer said. "If I get very deep into them, I get 80% of the way through them, then I really want to see it through. But, if I have an enjoyable experience out of it, I don't need to finish it – that's not that important."

"Games got bigger and bigger, and it became more and more impressive, and then at a certain point, one, supporting that volume of stuff, there's a quality dip – we're not employing eight times the number of contractors. You know, area designers and artists. And so, things start to feel less unique and bespoke."

Jordan Gerblick
Jordan Gerblick

After earning an English degree from ASU, I worked as a corporate copy editor while freelancing for places like SFX Magazine, Screen Rant, Game Revolution, and MMORPG on the side. I got my big break here in 2019 with a freelance news gig, and I was hired on as GamesRadar's west coast Staff Writer in 2021. That means I'm responsible for managing the site's western regional executive branch, AKA my home office, and writing about whatever horror game I'm too afraid to finish.