Veteran game designer Randy Smith Evergreen, who has worked on multiple Thief games over the years, says a large portion of the games industry, especially indie, needs to focus on “high-quality content” and gameplay, and not “enormous production budgets” inflated by a race to have advanced, hyper-realistic graphics. Especially if you are working on a Thief-like immersive sim in 2026.
In a new interview with PC Gamer, Smith Evergreen talked about his time on the Thief franchise and how the original game cost $3 million to make, and he thinks that cost would be even less today for various reasons, including off-the-shelf digital assets. And according to the vet designer, if you’re making a modern imsim in 2026, you should stick to a similar, relatively small budget of “about three to $10 million,” as he isn’t sure there’s a big enough audience out there to support a big AAA-budgeted imsim. Instead, he suggests studios build a “smaller” game using a team of knowledgeable and “passionate” devs who work fast.
“It’s not clear to me that the $3-million Thief or Deus Ex-style immersive sim that you want to make in the year 2026 is going to sell disproportionately different amounts of copies than the $250-million one that comes out of a big studio.”
For Smith Evergreen, games, especially well-made titles with great gameplay, only need so much fidelity to work and attract players.
“I remember back when Alan Wake came out,” Smith Evergreen told the outlet. “I was like, ‘OK, this is relatively photoreal. I know 100 percent that I’m on a ferry. I see that I’m going to an island in the Pacific Northwest. Why do we need more graphics?’ Because they just cost a ton.” For the veteran designer, as long as the game’s visuals establish the vibes and clearly communicate what the player needs to know, that’s more than enough.
“Would fans prefer an immersive sim that’s got insane spectacle and gorgeous, Arkane Lyon–quality vistas? Of course they would like that. But is it necessary for what you come to an immersive sim for? I’m not as sure that it is. And if you think about it, a lot of the most beloved indie games of the past 30 years—FTL is one example—were cheap, fast, scrappy games that just had amazing gameplay and great creativity.”
“And that’s the direction I think a lot of things need to go right now,” said Smith Evergreen. “Especially in the indie space. They need to be high-quality content, but not enormous production budgets.”
You can read more about Smith Evergreen’s thoughts on the industry, his next project, and how he got it funded in PC Gamer’s full interview.
