Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Blacklist is one of Ubisoft's most anticipated AAA titles of next year, but according to the game's director Patrick Redding the game industry is moving away from the AAA blockbuster.
Redding said at the Gamercamp festival in Toronto, as reported by Game Industry International, this new trend is going to "trigger a reality check for developers."
"The market as a whole is going to undergo a critical shift in priorities, a shift away from the absolute primacy of graphics and production values and content creation toward systemic depth," Redding said.
He added,"This trend is going to trigger a reality check for developers like me who work on established franchises with a large succession of sequels, and it's also going to be a call-to-arms for smaller game creators, including a number of people who are sitting in this room, I hope."
According to the Games Industry, Redding said the shift would be driven by the rising cost of production, procedurally literate players and digital distribution channels. He suggested a new game class called "lower-case aaa."
Redding listed several qualities that these new lower-case aaa titles will have including an emphasis on open-ended game design and multiple ways to complete a goal.
In the article it mentions that Redding perceives one issue with these "lower-case aaa" titles is that systemic design is difficult. Redding said, while publishers can add resources for better production values, adding more designers to fix design problem doesn't necessarily create systemic depth.
Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Blacklist from Ubisoft is the sixth installment of Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell series and will release for Windows PC, PlayStation 3, Wii U and Xbox 360 in Spring 2013.
Here is the game's synopsis from its official site:
"The United States has a military presence in two thirds of the countries around the world. A group of 12 have had enough and initiate a terror ultimatum called the Blacklist - a deadly countdown of escalating terrorist attacks on US interests. Sam Fisher is the leader of the newly formed Fourth Echelon unit: a clandestine unit that answers solely to the President of the United States. Sam and his team must hunt down these terrorists by any means necessary, and stop the Blacklist countdown before it reaches zero."
What do you think about Redding's statements concerning AAA blockbuster games? Do you think he is right? Comment in the section below and watch the Blacklist trailer.
