Darrah is currently working as a consultant on Dragon Age: The Veilguard. He shared his thoughts on the lengthy production process of AAA games.
“One of the reasons AAA games take so long to make is because the developers can afford to. They look at the market, analyze what they need to do, and decide that it's more important to create a game that makes a massive impact than to release something quickly.”
Darrah compared this approach to Rockstar's strategy regarding the GTA series:
“They would rather have a game come out once every ten years or less and be a cultural phenomenon than cut corners on time and potentially diminish its impact.”
He also noted that AA and indie games, which take less time to produce, can hit the market faster with innovative ideas, forcing teams working on AAA titles to adapt their projects, which also delays their release.
“There are many reasons why AAA games take a lot of time. Some make sense, some make sense from a business management perspective, and some are simply the result of team ambition and player expectations that teams are afraid of failing to meet.”
The extended release cycles of AAA games are driven by a combination of high player expectations, the need to innovate, and the desire of publishers to ensure their games aren't forgotten after a year. Despite the challenges that accompany such delays, developers are willing to spend more time to deliver a product of the highest quality.
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Cover image credit: Rockstar Games. Cover image source: YouTube