Dragon Age creator says that if crunch is "the only way" to make massive games, "maybe the industry deserves to die"

Characters attacking a dragon in Dragon Age: Origins - Ultimate Edition.
(Image credit: Electronic Arts)

David Gaider, the creator of Dragon Age's setting, has spoken out against the current state of the games industry, and the "fear" developers have of needing to crunch to make enormous games as if it's the only way forward. He believes that "it doesn't have to be that way," but that if it did, "maybe the industry deserves to die."

This comes from a recent interview with PC Gamer, in which Gaider, who's also the co-founder of Stray Gods developer Summerfall Studios, explains that those at his current studio work four days a week with a "realistic" schedule. By working with the time they have rather than crunching to fit in more, employees "love what they do" rather than feeling like "they're just a resource to be tapped," he says.

"There's this fear that exists – if we don't have everybody working overtime and we don't make AAA games that have $200 million budgets and the focus is on photorealistic graphics and 1,000-hour playtimes, we need to pack all that in and work everyone to death making it and that's the only way to make games," Gaider explains, speaking about the industry as a whole. "If that's true then maybe the industry deserves to die. If that's true. The thing is that I just don't think it's true."

The games industry has been a very turbulent place lately, as reflected by the huge layoffs seen at studios worldwide, which have been particularly prevalent over the last year or so. Speaking last month following the news of EA's plans to cut around 670 jobs, id Software co-founder John Romero said: "I've been in the game industry since I was a kid, and I've never seen anything like we're seeing now. For many of us, being a game dev is not just a job, but an identity, community, and culture. I am so sorry to everyone who has lost their jobs."

You can find some great new games to play on our list of the best Switch indie games.

Catherine Lewis
News Writer

I'm one of GamesRadar+'s news writers, who works alongside the rest of the news team to deliver cool gaming stories that we love. After spending more hours than I can count filling The University of Sheffield's student newspaper with Pokemon and indie game content, and picking up a degree in Journalism Studies, I started my career at GAMINGbible where I worked as a journalist for over a year and a half. I then became TechRadar Gaming's news writer, where I sourced stories and wrote about all sorts of intriguing topics. In my spare time, you're sure to find me on my Nintendo Switch or PS5 playing through story-driven RPGs like Xenoblade Chronicles and Persona 5 Royal, nuzlocking old Pokemon games, or going for a Victory Royale in Fortnite.

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