Published on

Assassin's Creed actor and metroidvania dev slams out-of-touch execs chasing the live-service dragon: 'Too much money is being spent on games people do not want'

Abubakar Salim, known for his roles in Assassin's Creed Origins and House of the Dragon, criticizes the gaming industry's focus on live-service games, arguing that publishers prioritize money over artistic expression, leading to expensive flops like PlayStation's Concord and Redfall.

Cover

Assassin's Creed actor and metroidvania director Abubakar Salim says "too much money is being spent on games people do not want" by figures "who are not in touch with the medium" and are chasing the next live-service hit.

Speaking with Dexerto, Salim - who stars in House of the Dragon Season 2, played Bayek in Assassin's Creed Origins, and last year released indie Metroidvania Tales of Kenzera: Zau - suggested that the process of making his own game "made me have a much deeper appreciation for developers and the work that goes into it."

However, he also suggested that that process had opened his eyes to the fact that "games are still very much treated as a business rather than necessarily as an art form." That approach, he says, is why "a lot of these big game publishers and companies are going for the games as a service model. They want to try and recreate the next Fortnite because it's going to make them more money. Games shouldn't be about that. It shouldn't be about money, it should be about expression."

Following up on those comments on Twitter, Salim said that "too much money is being spent on games people do not want." The chase for the next Fortnite, he says, means that "there are drivers in the industry who are not in touch with the medium and desire to make the next big [game as a service]."

Salim's comments certainly ring true around several high-profile live-service flops in recent years. The biggest of those was PlayStation's Concord, which was shuttered after just 14 days despite reports that the project's budget stretched well into nine figures. Elsewhere, Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League and Redfall were both examples of live-service pivots from traditionally single-player studios that were critical and commercial failures.

Keep an eye on the horizon with our list of new games 2024.