- Larian Studios CEO highlights impact of RAM crisis on game development
- Reports of more 8GB RAM and VRAM configurations suggest more difficult game development in terms of optimizations
- That could turn out to be a big positive for better PC ports
While the ongoing RAM crisis that has affected pricing for manufacturers has also affected consumers, that’s not the only knock-on effect that will occur leading into 2026, and one popular game developer’s CEO has spoken out.
In an interview with The Gamer, Larian Studios CEO Swen Vincke stated that the RAM price increases will impact game development, specifically with additional work required for game optimization on the recently announced Divinity game. It comes shortly after reports suggested we could see more 8GB RAM and VRAM configurations in 2026.
With rising costs for consumers, 8GB of RAM and VRAM (in GPUs) for custom gaming PC setups may become commonplace, as any higher-capacity hardware is likely to cost a fortune. This has already started, with some RAM kits costing more than entire consoles. Vincke fears that it will complicate game development, and that is a reasonable assessment.
“Another [issue Larian is facing] is really the price of RAM and the price of SSDs,” Vincke said. “It’s like we’ve literally never been like this.
“That means we’re most likely already going to have to do a lot of optimization work in early access that we didn’t necessarily want to do at the time.”
It’s a tough pill to swallow for the game developers working on it Divinity, and many other games in production across multiple studios. However, this could prove to be a huge win for PC gamers.
There’s no denying how bad PC ports (and some console ports) have been over the past few years, with many games launching with performance and optimization issues, and a heavy reliance on upscaling and frame generation from Nvidia or AMD respectively via DLSS and FSR.
With more 8GB configurations on the way, most notably Valve’s Steam Machine, which will launch using 8GB of VRAM, the RAM crunch will force game developers to focus on optimizing games for devices with more limited specs, which in turn will hopefully prevent games from launching in sloppy modes, along with promises of future patches to fix issues and use frame-aid-fix as a band-aid.
Analysis: The RAM crisis is terrible news for gamers and this is the only gain I can see
The AI boom is not slowing down anytime soon as it seems, which is the main reason for the RAM crisis. I fear that so far we haven’t seen the full impact it will have on PC and console gaming, and the only positive sign that I see right now is the potential for better game optimization.
Now there’s always a chance that upscaling and frame generation will become even more dependent when 8GB configurations become the focus of game developers. However, I’ve seen the limits of 8GB of VRAM on even the best gaming laptops and other gaming PCs (with discrete desktop GPUs) maxed out in demanding games, and it won’t go down well with gamers.
Better game optimization not only benefits consumers with low-end hardware due to stable and stable frame rates, but is also a bonus for advanced users who have spent hundreds on powerful hardware only to suffer from poor performance due to lack of optimization.
It will be a step in the right direction for developers and consumers, and maybe encourage gamers to call out bad PC ports more often.
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