Former Starfield lead says "people are fatigued" with huge games, and "I'm sorry" because "part of what happened is the success of games like Skyrim and Fallout 4"
Ex-Bethesda veteran and Starfield lead quest designer Will Shen reckons the volume of huge games is "reaching a point where people are fatigued," with that bigger-is-better design trend partly fueled by the likes of Bethesda's games.
Speaking with Kiwi Talkz in a recent interview, Shen waded into the ongoing discussion over whether games have gotten too long. Former PlayStation boss Shawn Layden notably said 100-hour games are a "mismatch" for today's reality just last month.
"I'm sorry," Shen joked, acknowledging that he certainly wasn't known for short games during his time at Bethesda. In 2023, he left the studio to join other RPG veterans and make a new open-world game, which also probably won't be very small.
"Not personally responsible, but part of what happened is the success of games like Skyrim and Fallout 4, these really big titles that you can play pretty much forever," Shen reasons. "There are still a lot of people playing Skyrim even after all these years. The idea of these evergreen games that you can just sink thousands of hours into, that hit the industry. Before, it was MMOs for that. World of Warcraft, there are superfans who will never leave that game."
The problem isn't just the size of these games – though Shen points out that "most games that are 10-plus hours long, most people don't finish, and I'd say 75% of your players only play through the first 5 - 10 hours" – but also the market they're launching into.
"Now we're reaching a point where people are fatigued, or a large section, a growing section of the audience, is becoming fatigued at investing 30-plus, 100-plus hours into a game. Because they already have that. They already have the games that they will continually come back to, and adding another one to that list is a tall order. It's always a tall order."
Consequently, Shen says contrasting short games are having a bit of a moment, tipping his hat to Game Awards GOTY winner Astro Bot and pointing to his own recent playthrough of
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