A Disco Elysium writer once told Josh Sawyer that ‘we can do better than this… is attracting attention across the tech world. Analysts, enthusiasts, and industry observers are watching closely to see how this story develops.
This update adds another signal to a fast-moving sector where product decisions, platform changes, and competition can quickly shape the market.
“We just keep inspiring each other. It’s not an animosity thing. It’s just, do the best you can, [and] get inspired by other people.”
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Great news: if you were gearing up to deliver a searing oration against something Fallout: New Vegas, Pillars of Eternity, and Pentiment director Josh Sawyer said a decade ago, he’d like to hear it too. In a recent chat with the Human Can Opener Podcast, the RPG vet discussed the ways that game developers all draw inspiration from one another, and how he’s downright certain he doesn’t have all the right answers when it comes to RPG design.
“We learn from each other,” said Sawyer. “One of the writers on Disco [Elysium] wrote to me a little while after Disco came out and they were proposing a talk that was, in a way, a sort of updated response to a talk [I gave] in 2012 about narrative choice. From what I recall he was somewhat apologetic about, like, ‘Hey, I’m gonna suggest this talk that’s sort of—hey, we can do better than this now’.”
Sawyer, of course, did not mind. “I’m like, ‘I certainly hope, fuckin’, 10 years we can do better!’ I wrote that a long time ago and also I don’t think I have all the answers on this stuff. I’m doing the best I can. If this is useful, hopefully it inspires other people.”
After all, Sawyer does the same kind of critical appraisal to other devs’ work. “I look at stuff and I go, ‘Hey that’s cool, but I have an idea how to make it better,’ and then I do something and someone sees that and says ‘Hey that’s cool—or it’s not cool—I have a way to make it better.’ This is just gonna keep going on.”
Sawyer points at branching dialogue as an example of an RPG tradition that feels very “locked” in terms of how RPG devs approach and structure it, but notes that, even there, “We still find new ways to do it, and other people after I’m gone are going to figure out other new ways to do it.
“We just keep inspiring each other. It’s not an animosity thing. It’s just, do the best you can, [and] get inspired by other people.”
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One of Josh’s first memories is of playing Quake 2 on the family computer when he was much too young to be doing that, and he’s been irreparably game-brained ever since. His writing has been featured in Vice, Fanbyte, and the Financial Times. He’ll play pretty much anything, and has written far too much on everything from visual novels to Assassin’s Creed. His most profound loves are for CRPGs, immersive sims, and any game whose ambition outstrips its budget. He thinks you’re all far too mean about Deus Ex: Invisible War.
Why This Matters
This development may influence user expectations, future product strategy, and the competitive balance inside the broader technology industry.
Companies in adjacent segments often react quickly to similar moves, which is why stories like this tend to matter beyond a single announcement.
Looking Ahead
The full impact will become clearer over time, but the story already highlights how quickly the modern tech landscape can evolve.
Observers will continue tracking the next steps and how they affect products, users, and the wider market.
