Last Updated on Sep 5, 2026 @ 12:32:25 PM.
I recently got the chance to sit down and chat with two leading members of Asobo Studio, responsible for the excellent third entry in Plague Tale franchise, Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy. Lead Writer Carol Ann Bañuls, and Lead Level Designer Valerian Robert were gracious enough to give me some time to chat about all things Resonance during Gamescom 2026, and having completed the game days before for my review, I had plenty to ask.
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From chatting about post-credit theories to whether we’re getting more spin-offs or a mainline Plague Tale 3, a lot was discussed, and come the end of our discussion, I wanted to know their thoughts on AAA gaming, and more specifically, if they considered Asobo Studio, and Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy, a AAA Studio and a AAA game. Robert responded first:
“What we could say, I think, is Resonance and the first Plague Tale were made by quite a small team. People often compared the big AAA games such as Last of Us or Uncharted for Resonance. We are associated with this game, but they have like lots of people, huge budget. We are only like 75 people. So, I mean, the team is very, very talented to deliver games such as the first Plague Tale and Resonance. And we shout out to them. Everyone is really working hard and is super talented.”
Considering the quality of Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy, with so many gamers commenting not only on it’s story, but the frankly absurdly beautiful environments, and almost photorealistic graphics at times, it was interesting to hear this opinion from Robert. Bañuls then continued, when asked if she considers the studio and game AAA:
“Oh, it’s not. I think people don’t know that, but the step between the AAA and the AAA is huge. It’s huge. It’s like hundreds and hundreds of people, and the budget is like way more. Millions! And no, it’s hard to be a AAA. We can’t be a AAA like that. It’s going to take years. If we even want that.”
It’s no secret that many studios grow too big too quickly, and lose the ‘soul’ of the studio in expanded growth and size. It also brings risk from a money perspective, with the bigger team necessitating a bigger project, feature creep and just taking on too much. Robert went as far as saying this as he followed to close off the discussion:
“I think we don’t really want to be a AAA game [or studio] because we know how to work with a small team, so maybe the team will grow over the years on the next project, but I don’t think any time soon we’ll be like a big AAA team because we know how to work together. Being 70 people, so being like a 400 team will be really, really different. And for now, we don’t want that. Absolutely.”
Robert and Bañuls are right in their description of the studio and most recent release, in the sense their not quite AAA. However, I think a lot of people would say that with the size of the team available, Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy has a lot of the hallmarks of a AAA release, and points to a big, big future for the studio. How that presents itself in the future is unknown, but we won’t have long to find out, I’m sure.
For your next read, check out our hands-on preview of The Defiant at Gamescom 2026, or how we really felt about Hellraiser: Revival after playing it.
Luke Addison is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Thumb Wars. Having previously been a part of multiple outlets over the years, including building an entire gaming team from nothing to something, he thought it best to forge his own path and answer only to himself. As likely to be found playing the latest game as he is in the kitchen relaxing (by cooking), he always brings the same bold and brash attitude to everything he does, with a heavy leaning on sarcasm and dry wit!
