Cliff Bleszinski: FPS Campaigns Cost Upwards of 75 Percent of Budget

Lavish and heavily scripted campaigns for first-person shooters don’t come cheap, though according to Cliff Bleszinski, these single-player components can cost upwards of 75 percent of the allotted budget. 

In an interview with PC Gamer, the former Epic Games designer spoke candidly about the nature of developing a campaign in the genre, which for many is viewed as a disposable appetizer for the multiplayer section. 

“Campaigns cost the most money. They usually cost 75% of the budget, and you burn through the campaign in a weekend, and then you guys go to multiplayer.”

Later in the piece, the developer — who is currently spearheading free-to-play shooter LawBreakers — offered an assessment of shooter campaigns in the AAA space. 

“A shooter campaign is very scripted, linear sequence. Everyone gets it: you’re either doing that – a two-day campaign – or an Assassin’s Creed, Skyrim or Fallout, where it’s this ridiculously large world that’s open-ended, that takes forever to make and costs a load of money. This is order for your average console gamer to avoid the trade-in mentality of the $60 disc-based game.”

Bleszinski’s comments inevitably sparked a debate via forums and NeoGAF, leading to the developer acknowledging the reaction via Twitter:

Do you believe single-player campaigns for FPS games are worth upwards of 75 percent of the budget? 

[Sources: PC Gamer, Twitter]