Game director Bruce Straley, who worked on The Last of Us and Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End, recently spoke out about today’s AAA games, calling the entire industry “boring.” He believes that while AAA titles have become increasingly impressive in terms of technology, graphics, and production scale, it’s become much harder to see truly fresh ideas in gameplay and experience.
Graphics Are Amazing, But He Just Isn’t Excited
Straley even used Sony Santa Monica’s new title God of War Laufey as an example. He acknowledged that every pixel in this game is absolutely stunning, requiring massive technical skill and production capability—he himself has worked on similar large-scale projects, so he knows exactly how difficult this quality is to achieve. But the problem is, when he actually looks at “what the player is doing,” he simply can’t get interested.
Not Saying God of War Is Bad—It’s That ALL AAA Games Are Too Similar!
Straley specifically emphasized that this is not aimed at the God of War team, but rather his observation of the entire AAA industry. He believes that large-scale game development seems to have increasingly little room for “fresh, innovative ideas.” That’s why his own studio, Wildflower Interactive, chose to make smaller-scale, distinctive games instead—ones that don’t need to be bound by the AAA formula.
This isn’t the first time Straley has shared such views. He previously left Naughty Dog in 2017 and has been more vocal about industry trends in recent years, frequently questioning whether bigger always means better in game development.