While most open-world games require dozens of hours to complete, that won’t be the case forMindsEye, the debut game from former Grand Theft Auto developer Leslie Benzies.
Benzie’s comments about the game’s length and how they in this day and age, there are so many different options for people to entertain themselves outside of games, which is why they’re targeting a relatively low number to complete the game’s campaign.
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MindsEye Developer Doesn’t Want A “200-Hour” Game
Speaking toGamesIndustry, Benzies was asked about MindsEye’s price of $60, which was the price of games a decade ago, and how the developers decided on the game’s length and scope.
Benzies confirmed the campaign will take 20-ish hours to complete, though the game has side content for people to chew on as well. “So you’ve got the MindsEye campaign, and yes, it’ll be about 20ish hours. But you do have all this other side content: there’s going to be this continuous stream of content,” Benzies adds. “These days, there are so many different options for people. It’s not just games: there’s streaming TV, so many good shows out there. I don’t think you’re able to have filler content in games. I think people want the meat, and they want the potatoes. We’ve tried to make as much meat as we can, if that makes sense.”
Continuing with his answer, Benzies adds that according to data, a big percentage of people don’t play “big games” to the end. “I think that’s a good length for a game. What you also find through data, is that [with] big games, people don’t play them all. The majority of people – 60% or 70% of people – don’t actually play games to the end,” the studio boss notes.
Adding to that, Benzies states, “So when you’re making something, I would prefer – I’m sure the team would say the same – [that] you had the whole experience from start to finish, and not create this 200-hour game. Create something that is finishable, but have some side things that will fill out the universe. A lot of the side missions on the play side of MindsEye do fill out the characters' back stories, or do fill out what was happening in the world.”
When it comes to the $60 price tag, Benzies mentions how the “world’s in a funny place,.” given people are worried about the price of eggs, “So value for money, I think people appreciate that when times are difficult.”
I’m not opposed to lower-priced games. I mean, we are shifting to $80 games, and any product that wants to be priced lower, I’m all for that.
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Benzies has a point about games having too much filler these days. I’d rather play a shorter game that respected my time than a gargantuan 100-hour game that forced me to go on missions to collect items just to pad the game’s length. Thankfully, more and more developers are foregoing this asinine game design since gamers are wising up, and know that a long game doesn’t necessarily mean it’s worth the money.
Benzies' studio, Build a Rocket Boy has made waves recently, as studio co-CEO Mark Gerhard matter-of-factlyaccused competitors of paying to smear the game and his studio. This happened after recent previews seemed to be less than favorable for MindsEye.
Can this new IP and studio capture the GTA magic? We’ll know for sure soon as MindsEye will be available on June 10 for the PS5, Xbox Series X|S and PC.
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