Saber CCO Tim Willits blames layoffs on games industry overspecialization: ‘Studios that have a couple hundred employees that work on one game are going to struggle’

With mega-games like GTA 6 on the way, it’s hard not to feel like games are always getting bigger—both the software itself, and the teams that make it (GTA 6 has an entire dedicated NPC team “art-directing” its every background character). But in an interview with PC Gamer’s Joshua Wolens, Saber Interactive CCO Tim Willits said a reliance on games with huge scopes and highly specialized teams may be responsible for some of the industry’s many, many woes.

“The industry always has some cycles, some ups and downs, and one of the things that we have done well to avoid some of the issues that other studios have had is we spread out our resources,” Willits said. “We develop games that are across the scope spectrum, for lack of a better description.” While games like Space Marine 2 and the upcoming Jurassic Park: Survival take a lot of manpower, the studio relies on remasters and smaller games to fund those “big bets.”