Former GTA 6 and RDR Online Game Designer Criticizes Overly Large Open Worlds in Games
Too much content is also bad, according to former Rockstar Games developer Cameron Williams. The game designer of Grand Theft Auto 6 and Red Dead Online spoke at GDC 2025 (Game Developers Conference) with criticism of overly large open worlds.
As he stated in his report, a excessive emphasis on action and the need to spend too much time exploring lead to "open world fatigue." Map markers like question marks and icons are also not a solution. Gamers often worry that the journey to the mark will not pay off.
They're wondering, "Okay, how far away is the next thing? I really gotta run all the way across the map? And what's my gain?"
Visual landmarks on the terrain can help with this problem. But when there are too many of them, it leads to "analysis paralysis":
We want to avoid creating a possibility space so large that players simply just don't know what to choose.
By the way, Cameron Williams is currently working as a game designer at Absurd Ventures, founded by Rockstar Games co-founder Dan Houser. The first poster with characters from the studio's debut game has recently appeared.
Earlier, another Rockstar Games veteran raised the topic of open worlds in games, explaining the difference between the upcoming Grand Theft Auto 6 and The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt.
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