Dragon Age creator tells why developers announce AAA games many years before release

Recently, players have been surprised by early announcements of AAA games. Sometimes a game is announced a few years before its release, when nothing is ready and there is nothing to show the public. Mark Darrah, known as the creator of the Dragon Age series and currently a consultant for Dragon Age: The Veilguard, spoke on his YouTube channel, among other things, about one of the possible reasons why AAA games take so long to release.

The video, which lasts almost 25 minutes, contains a lot of interesting information and is worth watching in full, and it focuses on the issue of early game releases from the perspective of studios and publishers:

«There may be reasons why it is important for the studio or publisher to make this game public. It could be because the publisher’s catalog is thin and they want the public to remember that they still have important games in the pipeline. It could be because the studio wants to announce the game because they are worried that the publisher will cancel it otherwise,» Darra said.

He added that it is usually not the best strategy for attracting attention and excitement about the game. Darra notes that this announcement does not mean the start of any intensive development or that the studio is focusing all its attention on the game.

«Studios can be misleading about this because they will say something like «we have started working on Elder Scrolls 6», or they may even release a trailer for the game, even though the current team size is less than 10 people. They give the impression that it’s a parallel development, that the team is working on this game, when in fact a few people are having a few meetings and not much is being done».

There is a chance that when there are 10 years or so between games, there will likely be no one working on that game for the first few years. Other factors that lead to a very distant release are the game itself: its size or the team’s focus on developing the hard parts.

Source: Insider Gaming