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The likes of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, Hollow Knight: Silksong, and Blue Prince enjoying such success over the past year injected some much-needed optimism into the industry. They proved it's still possible for teams of varying sizes to thrive and make releases that resonate with a wide audience. But as we move forward, It Takes Two director Josef Fares doesn't want the triple-A space to stagnate in favor of smaller ambitions, purely because he wants to keep getting games like GTA 6.
"You do hear, after the success of things like Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, that the AA games are taking over," he tells The Game Business. "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."
He believes, "we need both," and as publishers and investors see the incredible work being done in various corners of the medium, it's crucial not to get too obsessed with replicating what seems like a winning formula. "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," he states.
"I hope that publishers don't just look at a game like [Expedition 33], which has been super successful, and think, 'Oh, AA is a new thing. Let's only do that.' I don't believe in that," he continues. "You had a huge amount of AA games that came this year, which nobody cared about. Let's remember that."
The creative ecosystem flourishes when options exist in as many lanes as possible. It’s as worthwhile to have GTA 6 on offer as it is Ball x Pit, for whatever any prospective player may be looking for. As Fares alludes too, there are plenty of games in AA and in other tiers that fall flat for all manner of reasons; Anthem being one recent prolific example.
Through Hazelight Studios, his development company, Fares has directed No Way Out and Split Fiction in addition to the aforementioned It Takes Two. All co-op experiences, they scratch particular itches themselves, and it'd be just as foolhardy to consider Hazelight an absolute aspiration as it would Sandfall, when the best bet remains getting behind solid creativity wherever and whenever possible.
