Outgoing Ghost of Yotei studio head hopes for shorter dev cycles

Sport studios in every single place are grappling with the affect of costly years-long growth cycles that may flip large funds video games into big monetary boondoggles. And whereas that dialog has taken place over the specter of big-budget monetary misfires like Ubisoft’s Star Wars Outlaws, it seems even studios turning out hit video games like PlayStation-owned Sucker Punch Productions are fearful about these expansive timelines as properly.

That is in accordance with outgoing studio head and firm co-founder Brian Fleming, who mentioned the subject with Sport Developer after Ghost of Yotei gained the award for “Finest Journey Sport” at the 2026 DICE Awards. “These video games are taking us on-or-off about 5 years proper now,” he mentioned. “Candidly, we actually want that quantity was 4.”

“If we may get it right down to 4, that will be superb.”

Sucker Punch’s course of has definitely paid off, not simply with awards but additionally in phrases of gross sales numbers. Sony reported that the sport “outperformed” its predecessor Ghost of Tsushima in a current monetary report. Fleming mentioned the will to reclaim these years is in regards to the “alternative price” of its builders’ careers.

Associated:What’s the true cause video games are taking longer to make?

He mentioned is that the studio has spent an “inordinate quantity” of time enthusiastic about optimizing instruments and manufacturing processes, however these conversations have been “inadequate.” “That’s like treading water or perhaps even dropping a little bit bit of floor,” he remarked. “The true secret we predict going ahead goes to be designing video games that may be inbuilt shorter durations of time.”

Fleming clarified that builders should not count on “episodic” video games or something of that nature from Sucker Punch, however that the studio is “considering exhausting” about how its design selections affect the scope of video games it produces—all with the aim of lowering its manufacturing timelines to 4 years (which can nonetheless really feel like eons to different studios).

Sucker Punch’s subsequent recreation will hopefully be made in 4 years

Do not count on Sucker Punch to double its crew dimension in hopes of producing video games at a sooner tempo any time quickly. Fleming downplayed the concept that rising the quantity of folks engaged on its video games—or utilizing generative AI instruments—will remedy this specific downside.

“We do not entertain the concept that rising the crew is the proper technique,” he mentioned. “We really feel just like the quantity of man-years that went into [Ghost of Tsushima and Ghost of Yotei] is what we predict is the max.”

“This is not about offshoring. This is not about AI. That is about how you concentrate on the delivered product…what it’s, and what you are making an attempt to do, and the way you are able to do that by persevering with to be a sculptor of that venture and subtract away all of the issues that aren’t important.”

Fleming’s feedback align with what we heard from rank-and-file builders final yr when urgent the subject of lengthy growth cycles. Although we framed the subject as being about “poor management,” a number of builders we spoke with mentioned it was management’s incapability to firmly outline the venture that generally lengthened growth instances. Fleming’s feedback echo that sentiment, and will probably be price watching to see if his successors Jason Connell and Adrian Bentley can form that imaginative and prescient.

In fact, Sucker Punch management confronted a problem of a distinct form final yr when the studio fired a texture artist for mocking the killing of Charlie Kirk. Fleming defended the firing in an interview with Sport File, saying that “making mild of somebody’s homicide is a deal-breaker for us, and we condemn that, form of in no unsure phrases.”