Ambition was Sniper Ghost Warrior 3's downfall, says dev
It was very buggy
Sniper Ghost Warrior 3 [official site] did not launch in the healthiest state back in April. Despite multiple delays, it suffered from long load times and more than a few bugs. It was also missing its planned multiplayer component. In a statement made yesterday, CI Games CEO Marek Tymiñski confesses that mistakes were made and tries to offer an explanation.
The decision to make Sniper Ghost Warrior 3 an open-world game created problems, says Tymiñski.
When we began development of SGW3, we decided on such a relatively large scale of the game with its open world that now we realise it was just too ambitious versus what we could have been able to deliver in any reasonable amount of time. We simply made the wrong math considering the size of our team and the originally given timeframe.
And he admits that trying to make a AAA game was a “big mistake”.
By positioning the game in a AAA category, it took us away from what we could have done great. Instead we spent too much effort trying to catch up with other AAA titles in terms of their production values and features. That was a big mistake.
This mea culpa comes with a promise that CI Games won’t make the same mistake twice, and will make something more focused in future. With that in mind, the developers are working on a new title that won’t be shackled to an open world.
We're planning to make a great tactical shooter where we can focus on exciting gameplay, some key mechanics, and missions that have depth without all of the trappings of a large open-world setting. We want to make this game even more tactical than SGW3, and I believe the last three years have created a wonderful foundation that we can build upon for our next game.
CI Games won’t be giving up on Sniper Ghost Warrior 3, however. Tymiñski promises continued support, with more updates planned for later this year. They're also developing a sequel to the not-quite-Dark-Souls RPG, Lords of the Fallen.