Veteran game developer Josh Sawyer, known for his work on titles like Fallout: New Vegas, Pillars of Eternity, and Pentiment, has voiced his thoughts on the growing size of modern RPGs. He believes games like The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim and The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt don’t need to be even larger. This sentiment echoes similar opinions shared by former PlayStation chief Shawn Layden and ex-Bethesda designer Will Shen, who discussed how massive games can lead to player fatigue.
Enjoyment Over Completion
In a recent YouTube video (thanks GamesRadar), Sawyer responded to viewer questions, emphasizing that it’s not essential for players to complete every game they start, as long as they enjoy the time spent playing. Using Skyrim and The Witcher 3 as examples, he explained that the focus should be on creating enjoyable experiences rather than making games excessively long or large.
Sawyer stated, “Some players really need to finish the game but I would say most players, including myself, I’m not that concerned with finishing games. 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.”
He also urged developers to avoid making games unnecessarily massive. According to Sawyer, overly large games risk losing quality due to limited resources. “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.”
Sawyer concluded by saying that games don’t need to be significantly larger. Instead, the focus should be on creating engaging worlds that are fun to explore without feeling repetitive or tedious.
