Labelling Sniper Ghost Warrior 3 As AAA Was “A Mistake” Says CI Games CEO

While Sniper Ghost Warrior 3 was a good sniper game, it missed the mark with its by the numbers story and various bugs that detracted from the package as a whole – our review. For a game that was CI Games’ attempt to break into the AAA bracket, it fell short.

As the company reiterate their support for Sniper Ghost Warrior 3 with updates planned through 2017, as well as a commitment to creating a sequel to Souls-like Lords of the Fallen, they’ve also got ideas for a new tactical shooter that drops the open world trappings. Sniper Ghost Warrior 3’s chastening reception has helped them learn some valuable lessons going into that new project, from the limits of their capabilities to the dangers of getting distracted by the AAA label.

CEO Marek Tymiñski said, “When we began development of SGW3, we decided on such a relatively large scale of the game with its open world that now we realize 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. 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.

“All of that was a huge lesson for us and we’re now moving forward without any tag attached to our next project. 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.”

Source: press release