Whilst in an interview with GamesIndustry.biz, Christopher Kline has said that mid-budget developers don’t have ”a lot of hope” in surviving the industry.
The technical director of 2K Boston also says the market is now separating ”whereas before they were just muddled,” speaking about casual and more engrossing games.
”I think what we realised, which really started that transition back at Irrational, we were doing games that I’d say were mid-budget - maybe USD 3-4 million - that there was no real market left,” Kline said during the GDC last month.
”You’d have to do something like what EA is doing and go into the casual market, or you’ve got to go for a really big blockbuster - just because of the economics, especially for the small independent developers, you’re really squeezed out of the middle.”
He notes that the two markets, the casual and more involved, have begun to seperate more and head off to their own ends of the spectrum.
”I think you’d have to see the future to know that,” he said. ”It’s curious - I’m not sure it’s the natural evolution of things, that there are two markets that are now just separating, whereas before they were just muddled, and this is a good thing - or if people have been left out in the cold.”
”I definitely think there’s a market for a shorter, more casual experience - something that’s a little more light-hearted. And we hope there’s a market for people who want very cinematic, very emotional experiences that are also intelligent and made for adults.”
Click here to read the full interview between Christopher Kline and GamesIndustry.biz.
