Interview Fallout and RPG veteran Josh Sawyer says most players don't want games "6 times bigger than Skyrim or 8 times bigger than The Witcher 3"

[SpartaN]

I've been going on about games being too big for years now, so I've been glad to see several industry figures echo that sentiment. Last month, ex-PlayStation boss Shawn Layden argued 100-hour giants are unsustainable, and a "mismatch" for today's players anyway. Just a few days ago, former Bethesda veteran and Starfield lead quest designer Will Shen said "people are fatigued" with huge games, and now Sawyer is preaching the good word too.

In Sawyer's view, it doesn't matter whether players actually finish games they start as long as they enjoy the time they do spend in those games. He pointed to RPG classics Skyrim and The Witcher 3 as examples of sprawling games that many players don't finish but still hold in high regard.

Fallout and RPG veteran Josh Sawyer says most players don't want games "6 times bigger than Skyrim or 8 times bigger than The Witcher 3"

Sawyer says most players, including himself, aren't "concerned with finishing games" either

www.gamesradar.com

Over on his YouTube channel (timestamped here)

 

[Klark Kent]

Witcher 3 feels absolutely perfect in terms of scope and content.

It's big enough to feel like in a big living world. Exploring constantly gets you new stuff and interesting small stories (yes sometimes a letter and a chest with a different letter or visualstorytelling is satisfying).

At the same time the world is small enough that you are not simply quicktraveling everytime.

Also an interesting question. What was an example for an open world, where you went "I wish that was bigger!" Personally.... never.

 

[Jakelmoss]

I'm the opposite. Throw me in the biggest sandbox you can make.

7 days to die once had a procederally generated unlimited map. It was amazing and I miss it.

 

[Forthcoming]

It would be more accurate to say players don’t want games of that size and length when they get to that size by having a significant portion composed of filler trash collection quests and other such meaningless activities. I bet most would love a game 8x larger if it was all compelling content.

Gamers don’t want BLOATED games. That’s not the same thing as saying they don’t want larger games.

 

[Hazel Stevenson]

Also a problem with bigger worlds is they very rarely know how to flesh them out. Take the last few pokemon games, big worlds full of nothing. There's no point in having a huge open world if you don't fill it with interesting things to look at and interact with.

 

[ItzBUSCHyy]

Weird, breath of the wild was much smaller but was jam packed with shit to do and things to explore. Felt like a real adventure.