Legendary Guilty Gear Creator Offers a Warning to AAA Game Developers

"It's very dangerous"

by · Push Square

The main brain behind Guilty Gear, Daisuke Ishiwatari, has recently expressed some concern for the direction of AAA game development — and it's difficult to downplay said concerns when the man's such a creative icon.

Speaking to 4Gamer (as translated by Automaton), the visionary's offered something of a warning to staff who end up stuck on the same kinds of projects for years and years at a time.

"In current game development, localised staff involvement has become a common thing [...] It’s very dangerous to spend decades doing highly specialised work, only to realise later that you’re no longer capable of doing anything else," he explains.

Ishiwatari continues: "You’ll find yourself at a loss when the project you’re working on hits a rough patch, and even if you quit your job, your chances of finding another one will be slim."

His comments come across as a bit of a jab towards modern AAA development, where teams can, again, spend the best part of a decade working on just a single big budget release.

Indeed, he goes on to criticise the general lack of creativity in AAA gaming right now, since these mega projects are typically averse to risk because the monetary investment is so great: "People join game companies wanting to create their own signature work someday, but in today’s market, those opportunities are extremely rare."

Of course, Ishiwatari himself has been working on pretty much one franchise — Guilty Gear — his entire career, but these quotes stem from the recent launch of DAMON and BABY, which is a completely different kind of title from Arc System Works.

He explains that he and the team approached the action game from a much more fluid perspective — basically allowing developers to trust their instincts when creating the title's look and feel, instead of relying on strict revisions of ideas.

It sounds like quite a freeing experience, which Ishiwatari argues is hugely valuable in terms of broadening a team's perspective.

Interesting stuff, then, from a guy who's been delivering on a unique vision for decades. What do you make of Ishiwatari's viewpoint? Get ready to rock in the comments section below.

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[source 4gamer.net, via automaton-media.com]

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About Robert Ramsey

Robert (or Rob if you're lazy) is an assistant editor of Push Square, and has been a fan of PlayStation since the 90s, when Tekken 2 introduced him to the incredible world of video games. He still takes his fighting games seriously, but RPGs are his true passion. The Witcher, Persona, Dragon Quest, Mass Effect, Final Fantasy, Trails, Tales — he's played 'em all. A little too much, some might say.

Comments 6

Im really curious about GTA 6 budget

Nice interview!! Lots of great wisdom shared.

the problem with modern game development: budgets are inflating, development times are getting longer and competition is growing a lot compared to 360/PS3 days so you become more risk adverse so unless you're a Capcom where you can allow a Pragmata/Kunitsu Gami because SF/RE/MH sales will carry you. Others not so much.

the problems with indies is that there are so.many.games coming out that not every game is Mewgenics or Slay the Spire 2. I came up with this concept of a game being a "beacon" as in THE game everyone has to buy whether it's Crimson Desert or Elden Ring. If you're not a beacon you have to hope to be successful, otherwise you get lost in the shuffle. And indie games with low visibility and small budgets and dev teams wish they can become Mewgenic or a Balatro but they cant because you're not a beacon.

I still wonder, why AAA games are made so huge right now? So much details no one cares about, so many empty places that looks good but nothing happens there, so many mechanics that are unnecessary? I replay game because of story (if I return to some game), not to waste time on mechanics.

Do I need skills in Assassin's Creed? No, I'm avatar of trained assassin in virtual simulation.
Do I need crafting in Tomb Raider? No, I want to play her adventures.
Do I need character customisation in Diablo? No, I'm daemon slayer and I don't care how I look, especially when I'm covered by armour asap.

People want play game, not life simulation. People want action, not traveling simulation.
People focus on front ground, not enviroment.

Imagine how successful would be movies when you watch main hero spending hour in gym, spending 30 minutes packing baggages, 50 minutes long scene where he runs from town to town... ? And same it is with games. People just don't care they can do anything and walk everywhere, they want to play story, get action, be heroes.

...ohh god, hours long scene watching Indiana Jones cutting thru jungle to reach Temple of Doom...

"Indeed, he goes on to criticise the general lack of creativity in AAA gaming right now"

Not just AAA but many AA and indie games also lack creativity. But i think it's not completely the developers fault.

Some faults are at gamers hands. We all knew gamers are picky & inconsistent creature. One day they scream for devs to make new risky creative games but when those games arrived most gamers didn't buy it and just complaint about how the game looks strange or weird. For example just look at Kunitsu Gami which only sold 500K copies or To a T from Katamari Damacy creator which was a flop and forced him to semi-retired situation. Of course there's a success story too like Death Stranding despite it also received gamers negative reactions.

But when new creative IP didn't sold well enough to break even then the publisher would be furious and that could lead to studio closing down or the talents got layoff. This fear of making creative games that didn't sell will pushed devs to played it safe.

Also, i think we already pass the peak of creativity for video games. The last era where we got so many creativity was in the PS3/Wii/360 era. I don't think we will have another era like that anymore...

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