Warhammer 40,000: Space Marines 2 has been a success for developer Saber Interactive, but the company's creative director says losing focus on “what really makes the game fun” may be part of why other AAA developers sometimes fail with their own releases.
In an interview with Agency, Saber CCO Tim Willits says, “A lot of teams during development will go beyond the scope of the games.” With Space Marine 2, he says, the team didn't implement “some revolutionary new gameplay mechanics that no one has seen before,” but instead opted to “execute very, very well” things that fans are familiar with. No doing this and instead looking at other games before deciding “oh, we have to do that, let's add this, we have to do this” can be a problem, he suggests, as developers can “lose focus on the core, which It really makes the game fun.”
Willits also points to rising development costs, which can be a major problem for studios, as games can have huge sales expectations based on their huge budgets. Space Marine 2 was developed “affordably,” Willits says, noting that “we don't need to sell four million units to make it.” [Space Marine 2] a success.” However, that is not always the case for everyone.
“Unfortunately there are a lot of games, especially from North American developers, where if you don't sell five million copies, you're a failure,” Willits says. “I mean, what business are we in where you fail if you sell less than five million?”
Willits continues, noting that “we don't want to be that business,” but rather a developer that focuses on “what makes games really fun, and then doing them really well, and then making them affordable.” It's a noble goal, and based on how well Space Marine 2 is doing so far, it's clearly working for Saber Interactive.
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