"I think that might be a misread": Thief designer on why making a triple-A immersive sim doesn't really work

Per Rock Paper Shotgun, Randy Smith Evergreen, a designer on the original Thief, argues that immersive sims can't sustain triple-A budgets. The genre has historically been niche — beloved by fans but never a sales juggernaut — and major studio backing typically fails to recoup its costs. Evergreen's view: the genre's best path forward is to avoid triple-A development altogether.

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