14 DAY TRIAL // Many developers consider the gaming industry to be ballooning once again, just like it did around five years ago, before being revolutionized and revitalized by the surge of indie development.
Budget polarization is a problem that many mid-tier developers face. The cost of AAA development keeps increasing and the stakes get higher and higher, and the only alternative to having "friends" with deep pockets is to create interesting small-scale experiences on a shoestring budget.
Anything in-between increases the chances of failure, and there are fewer and fewer established developers working with mid-tier budgets, especially with the mobile and indie explosions nearing the point of saturation.
Ninja Theory is currently working on just such a title, Hellblade, designed to offer a small-scale AAA experience, after failing to gain traction with a massive science fiction multiplayer concept. You can see some of the studio's work on the project in a blog post on the Hellblade website.
The studio took the decision to create a small-scope project and publish it independently due to the fact that deals with publishers aren't ideal at all, and you have to give up on a lot of things and make a ton of concessions in order for the publisher to take the gamble on your project.
This situation arose due to unrealistic forecasts
"With Hellblade, it's really nice that we can be comfortable in the fact that we're not trying to appeal to everyone. We're not trying to hit unrealistic forecasts. Ultimately, I think a lot of games have unrealistic forecasts."
"Everyone knows that they're unrealistic, but they have to have these unrealistic forecasts to justify the investment that's going into development," Hellblade Project Lead Dominic Matthews told GamesIndustry.
He revealed that a lot of games fail, at least on paper, due to the fact that they don't hit those unrealistic forecasts, which leads to the studios making them not getting the chance to create any more.
Matthews believes that publishers have no choice but to stick to the safe bets and only fund blockbusters with mass appeal that have to check all the items on the average users' list of expectations from a full-price retail game, becoming less and less distinct.
That leaves independent studios like Ninja Theory with some wiggle room to innovate and experiment, to release low-price AAA games with a smaller scope, and a very focused experience, appropriate for their level of pricing.
Hellblade is expected sometime later this year, on the PlayStation 4 home entertainment system and PC. The game is inspired by Celtic mythology and follows protagonist Senua in a harrowing journey through the underworld.
Ninja Theory promised to deliver a great combat system, with a lot of sword-based action and a distinct ninja flavoring, and with all the high production value artwork and storyline that gamers expect from AAA games.
