Cliff Bleszinski is preparing his own new game with Lawbreakers under his studio Boss Key Productions, but he is known for his work in developing Unreal and Gears of War, talked at the recent Dubrovnik's Reboot Develop 2017 saying that AAA games of today cost too much to make.
We know that game development costs are ridiculously high, with CliffyB saying: "$60 is still a lot of money to ask people for. And to ask them to make that bet multiple times per year? Gamers are picky, they're smart. This is a nearly unsustainable model, unless you're an Activision, 2K or a Sony". He even went as far to compare it to the restaurant scene in the US, saying: "They're not bad, they're not great, they're just there".
CliffyB said that this sees game developers wanting to imitate successful games or franchises, because big AAA developers can't afford for their game to fail. Instead of near guaranteed failure in the big AAA leagues, CliffyB said that developers could do something he calls AA game development, adding: "Games that look and play great but pick their battles in terms of budget and marketing".
This is definitely something I agree with, especially when you look at the recent success of PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds - or even the massive giants like League of Legends, CS:GO, DOTA2, or Overwatch. Apart from Overwatch, there's no huge $60+ investment (or $100+ in the case of Premium/Season Passes) but near unlimited fun.
When it comes to VR, CliffyB said that the technology associated with VR is expensive, and intimidating, but said that the VR industry will continue to improve. He added: "If I were Oculus, Facebook or Vive, I would have kiosks at every major retail location, and a tech team that comes round to set it all up properly. But like all technologies, it'll get better, it'll get faster. But give it a little bit of time".