The relentless pursuit of higher fidelity graphics in video games is becoming unsustainable, according to industry veteran Raph Koster, who believes the next major industry reset will come from a platform prioritizing accessibility over visual spectacle.
Koster, whose development credits include Ultima Online and Star Wars Galaxies, has been vocal about the escalating costs of game development for years. "I think the first time I spoke about, ‘Hey, cost is going to kill us’ was 2005," he told Edge Magazine. He explains that content costs, in particular, have ballooned. "What used to be a single 128x128 texture is now multiple 4K textures with shaders and all this stuff." While tools have improved, allowing for procedural generation and asset purchases, the downstream costs of integrating and testing these assets still accumulate significantly.
This rise in development expenditure clashes with stagnant game prices. "who buys something at $60, even, today?" Koster questioned, highlighting how constant sales and discounts further compress profit margins. This creates a problematic cycle where the cost to create games increases while their retail value fails to keep pace.
Koster suggests that industry disruption often comes from the emergence of a new platform. He outlined several key characteristics such a platform would need to alleviate the current pressures. It must introduce a novel affordance, offering gameplay experiences impossible on existing hardware. Crucially, it should be less conducive to creating traditional, high-fidelity games, thereby preventing established companies from immediately dominating with their existing expertise.
"The number-one biggest thing this new platform needs is to have shitty graphics," Koster stated, referencing historical examples like Flash games, early Facebook titles, the Wii, and mobile platforms. While acknowledging that these platforms eventually see costs rise as they mature, he argues that a deliberately less graphically demanding initial focus provides a necessary reset. "We haven’t had a new platform come along to reset that cost curve in a long time. Like, a long time."