Tim Willits, Chief Creative Officer at Saber Interactive, stated that development costs for major North American game studios are excessively high, and publishers need to manage budgets and project scopes more reasonably. He believes that pursuing multiple projects simultaneously is more effective for risk diversification than betting on a single high-budget blockbuster.
Willits believes that the AA game development strategy is more effective in the industry than the AAA model. Saber employs controlled budgets, global teams, and parallel multi-project development to avoid placing the entire burden of success or failure on a single title.
Citing the film industry's "slate financing" model as an example, he explained that developers can partner with private equity firms or publishers to invest in four to five games simultaneously. As long as three of them succeed, the overall investment can still yield favorable results even if one underperforms.
Willits also stated that development teams should focus resources on truly essential content while keeping game scope in check. He mentioned that he can sometimes spot unnecessary expenditures directly within games, where such spending fails to effectively translate into product value.
Discussing the financial pressures facing North American game development, he noted that large local studios typically burn through over $2 million per month. In contrast, Saber spent only $6 million developing SnowRunner, a title that has already generated hundreds of millions in revenue.
According to Willits' figures, the total development cost of SnowRunner is equivalent to just about three months of expenditure for a large California-based studio. He advocates reducing the risk associated with the failure of a single high-cost title by controlling budgets, leveraging global teams, and increasing the number of projects.