{"id":80979,"date":"2026-08-31T12:20:13","date_gmt":"2026-08-31T04:20:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=80979"},"modified":"2026-08-31T12:20:13","modified_gmt":"2026-08-31T04:20:13","slug":"maybe-its-a-good-thing-aaa-games-take-13-years-to-make","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=80979","title":{"rendered":"Maybe It&#8217;s a Good Thing AAA Games Take 13 Years to Make"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p><em><strong>Patch Notes<\/strong> is a weekly newsletter bringing you the best of Polygon, sent on Fridays and published on the site on Sundays. You can <\/em><em>subscribe here<\/em><em>.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>    <!-- No AdsNinja v10 Client! --><\/p>\n<hr\/>\n<section class=\"emaki-custom-block emaki-custom-dropcap\" data-nosnippet=\"\">\n<div class=\"emaki-custom dropcap\" id=\"custom_block_2\">\n<div class=\"custom_block-content dropcap\">\n<p>Gamescom may be, as I&#8217;ve argued, the most vital convention in the gaming calendar now, but it still leaves something to be desired when it comes to generating headlines. This week, Geoff Keighley&#8217;s two-and-a-half-hour Opening Night Live showcase was comprehensively overshadowed by a 26-minute <em>Grand Theft Auto 6 <\/em>trailer on Netflix \u2014 although I guess both proved, in their way, that going long can work.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/section>\n<aside class=\"display-card  article article-card small  no-badge  active-content                              \" data-include-community-rating=\"false\" id=\"gta-6-netflix-preview-news-reveals-rockstar-games\" data-nosnippet=\"\">\n<p>                        <img width=\"440\" height=\"248\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"GTA 6's logo superimposed on an image of Vice CIty\" data-img-url=\"https:\/\/static0.polygonimages.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/gta-6-gameplay-reveal-trailer.jpg?q=49&amp;fit=crop&amp;w=220&amp;h=124&amp;dpr=2\" src=\"https:\/\/static0.polygonimages.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/gta-6-gameplay-reveal-trailer.jpg?q=49&amp;fit=crop&amp;w=220&amp;h=124&amp;dpr=2\"\/><\/p>\n<div class=\"w-display-card-content regular article-block\">\n<h5 class=\"display-card-title \">\n<p>\t\t\tEvery big reveal from the GTA 6 Netflix trailer<\/p>\n<\/h5>\n<p class=\"display-card-excerpt\">Rockstar offered little comment on the contents of the Extended Look, but that didn&#8217;t stop the rest of the internet (or Josh Broadwell)&#8230;<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<aside class=\"display-card  article article-card small  no-badge  active-content                              \" data-include-community-rating=\"false\" id=\"gamescom-2026-opening-night-live-all-news-announcements-trailers\" data-nosnippet=\"\">\n<p>                        <img width=\"440\" height=\"248\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt - Songs of the Past\" data-img-url=\"https:\/\/static0.polygonimages.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/ss_271acc7cebd1faeaa848997e60eb8f5a92ff94fd-1920x1080.jpg?q=49&amp;fit=crop&amp;w=220&amp;h=124&amp;dpr=2\" src=\"https:\/\/static0.polygonimages.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/ss_271acc7cebd1faeaa848997e60eb8f5a92ff94fd-1920x1080.jpg?q=49&amp;fit=crop&amp;w=220&amp;h=124&amp;dpr=2\"\/><\/p>\n<div class=\"w-display-card-content regular article-block\">\n<h5 class=\"display-card-title \">\n<p>\t\t\tEvery big announcement from Gamescom Opening Night Live<\/p>\n<\/h5>\n<p class=\"display-card-excerpt\">\u2026while Austin Manchester ran down a mammoth showcase that was more substantial, but also less<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<p>\u2026while Austin Manchester ran down a mammoth showcase that was more substantial, but also less<\/p>\n<p>Tough beat for Opening Night Live, which is suspended awkwardly between its ringmaster&#8217;s other big nights \u2014 Summer Game Fest in June and The Game Awards in December. There are only so many paying customers who absolutely have to debut their game footage at the end of August (especially when you&#8217;re charging $5,000 per second). And Rockstar Games, respectfully, isn&#8217;t going to be one of them if it can partner with Netflix instead.<\/p>\n<p>Who is paying? Chinese and Korean developers, who continue to strive (and increasingly succeed in finding) a foothold in Western markets. Two of the event&#8217;s biggest trailer moments were the reveal of <em>NodusFall<\/em>, the new game from <em>Genshin Impact<\/em>&#8216;s HoYoverse, and the return of &#8220;anime GTA&#8221; <em>Ananta<\/em>.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"display-card  article article-card small  no-badge  active-content                              \" data-include-community-rating=\"false\" id=\"ananta-the-anime-gta-game-finally-has-a-release-date\" data-nosnippet=\"\">\n<p>                        <img width=\"440\" height=\"248\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Key art from Ananta, showing four characters next to a sports car on a suspension bridge\" data-img-url=\"https:\/\/static0.polygonimages.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/ananta-1.jpg?q=49&amp;fit=crop&amp;w=220&amp;h=124&amp;dpr=2\" src=\"https:\/\/static0.polygonimages.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/ananta-1.jpg?q=49&amp;fit=crop&amp;w=220&amp;h=124&amp;dpr=2\"\/><\/p>\n<div class=\"w-display-card-content regular article-block\">\n<h5 class=\"display-card-title \">\n<p>\t\t\t&#8216;Anime GTA\u2019 game Ananta gets official release date beyond GTA 6&#8217;s blast radius<\/p>\n<\/h5>\n<p class=\"display-card-excerpt\">Willa Rowe hails an unlikely spoiler for Rockstar&#8217;s hegemony<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<aside class=\"display-card  article article-card small  no-badge  active-content                              \" data-include-community-rating=\"false\" id=\"nodus-fall-trailer-hoyoverse-elden-ring-monster-hunter\" data-nosnippet=\"\">\n<p>                        <img width=\"440\" height=\"248\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"A character in Nodus Fall\" data-img-url=\"https:\/\/static0.polygonimages.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/nodus-fall-hoyoverse-elden-ring-monster-hunter.jpg?q=49&amp;fit=crop&amp;w=220&amp;h=124&amp;dpr=2\" src=\"https:\/\/static0.polygonimages.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/nodus-fall-hoyoverse-elden-ring-monster-hunter.jpg?q=49&amp;fit=crop&amp;w=220&amp;h=124&amp;dpr=2\"\/><\/p>\n<div class=\"w-display-card-content regular article-block\">\n<h5 class=\"display-card-title \">\n<p>\t\t\tNodusFall looks like HoYoverse smashed Monster Hunter and Elden Ring together<\/p>\n<\/h5>\n<p class=\"display-card-excerpt\">Josh Broadwell has little trouble establishing the genealogy of this one<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<p>It would be a fool who bet against either of these games. (I hear very good things about <em>Ananta<\/em>.) They&#8217;re part of a vanguard seeking to redefine AAA games from the outside \u2014 which, it must be said, is the only place AAA games have ever been successfully redefined from. Rockstar Games did it once. CD Projekt Red did, too.<\/p>\n<p>Some scoffed at Gamescom Opening Night Live for finishing on a free update and expansion for CD Projekt&#8217;s <em>The Witcher 3<\/em>, a game that recently sailed with great dignity past its 11th birthday. You won&#8217;t catch me doing the same, and not just because I love <em>The Witcher 3<\/em>. I love it when games last \u2014 when you can realistically continue to play them for a decade or more, and when their makers continue to support them.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"display-card  article article-card small  no-badge  active-content                              \" data-include-community-rating=\"false\" id=\"witcher-3-songs-past-preview-gameplay-gamescom\" data-nosnippet=\"\">\n<p>                        <img width=\"440\" height=\"248\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Geralt attacks a monster in The Withcer 3: Songs of the Past\" data-img-url=\"https:\/\/static0.polygonimages.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/geralt.jpg?q=49&amp;fit=crop&amp;w=220&amp;h=124&amp;dpr=2\" src=\"https:\/\/static0.polygonimages.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/geralt.jpg?q=49&amp;fit=crop&amp;w=220&amp;h=124&amp;dpr=2\"\/><\/p>\n<div class=\"w-display-card-content regular article-block\">\n<h5 class=\"display-card-title \">\n<p>\t\t\tThe Witcher 3: Songs of the Past&#8217;s first gameplay demo showcases Geralt&#8217;s new weapon and deadly enemies<\/p>\n<\/h5>\n<p class=\"display-card-excerpt\">Ford James reports from a Gamescom demo of the new expansion<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<p>Ford James reports from a Gamescom demo of the new expansion<\/p>\n<p>This is relevant to GTA, too. It&#8217;s easy to bemoan the enormously lengthy and costly development cycles that have beset AAA game studios and that leave us waiting so long between installments. But it&#8217;s also a good thing for the gaming world not to be so obsessed with novelty that it forgets to maintain and promote what it has already made.<\/p>\n<p>Because <em>GTA 6<\/em> has taken 13 years to arrive, <em>GTA 5<\/em> has been released on three generations of consoles, and <em>GTA Online <\/em>has thrived. Because CD Projekt got waylaid by <em>Cyberpunk 2077<\/em> and is taking its time with <em>The Witcher 4<\/em>, its 2015 classic now gets its second remaster \u2014 a free update to all owners \u2014 and an unheralded third expansion to wrap up the story of its beloved hero Geralt. These games deserve long life-spans, and younger generations of gamers deserve to be able to find them and play them with ease.<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;d bite your hand off for a look at <em>The Witcher 4<\/em>, of course. But the pride and generosity with which CD Projekt is caring for its predecessor warms my heart. It might not make for the most thrilling One More Thing at a games showcase. But it speaks of a true love for the medium.<\/p>\n<p>    <!-- No AdsNinja v10 Client! --><\/p>\n<h2 id=\"plus-this\">\n                        Plus this:<br \/>\n               <\/h2>\n<aside class=\"display-card  article article-card small  no-badge  active-content                              \" data-include-community-rating=\"false\" id=\"point-it-out-episode-1\" data-nosnippet=\"\">\n<p>                        <img width=\"440\" height=\"248\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"PIO thumb 6\" data-img-url=\"https:\/\/static0.polygonimages.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/pio-thumb-6.png?q=49&amp;fit=crop&amp;w=220&amp;h=124&amp;dpr=2\" src=\"https:\/\/static0.polygonimages.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/pio-thumb-6.png?q=49&amp;fit=crop&amp;w=220&amp;h=124&amp;dpr=2\"\/><\/p>\n<div class=\"w-display-card-content regular article-block\">\n<h5 class=\"display-card-title \">\n<p>\t\t\tWatch Point It Out! episode 1, Polygon&#8217;s new news show<\/p>\n<\/h5>\n<p class=\"display-card-excerpt\">Simone de Rochefort and Matt Patches introduce our new YouTube news show, which this week is also all about Gamescom<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<aside class=\"display-card  article article-card small  no-badge  active-content                              \" data-include-community-rating=\"false\" id=\"the-dog-stars-review-ridley-scott\" data-nosnippet=\"\">\n<p>                        <img width=\"440\" height=\"248\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"TDS-02865\" data-img-url=\"https:\/\/static0.polygonimages.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/tds-02865.jpg?q=49&amp;fit=crop&amp;w=220&amp;h=124&amp;dpr=2\" src=\"https:\/\/static0.polygonimages.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/tds-02865.jpg?q=49&amp;fit=crop&amp;w=220&amp;h=124&amp;dpr=2\"\/><\/p>\n<div class=\"w-display-card-content regular article-block\">\n<h5 class=\"display-card-title \">\n<p>\t\t\tRidley Scott&#8217;s The Dog Stars is a post-apocalyptic odyssey like no other<\/p>\n<\/h5>\n<p class=\"display-card-excerpt\">Apparently there&#8217;s also a new sci-fi movie by the director of Alien and Blade Runner this week \u2014 and Jake Kleinman says it&#8217;s awesome<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<center><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.polygon.com\/patch-notes-gta-6-the-witcher-3-gamescom\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article At Source <\/a><br \/>\n<center\/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Patch Notes is a weekly newsletter bringing you the best of Polygon, sent on Fridays and published on the site on Sundays. You can subscribe&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":60169,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[4708,321,97,59],"class_list":["post-80979","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tech-gadgets-reviews","tag-aaa","tag-games","tag-good","tag-years","wpcat-32-id"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80979","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=80979"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80979\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/60169"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=80979"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=80979"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=80979"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}