HappySqurriel on 02 May 2007
| kber81 said: This is crap. Does anybody believe they spent almost 20 millions $ for Ridge Racer 7 (they already worked on next-gen RR for Xbox360) and Gundam? Gears of War cost around 12 millions $ - this sounds reasonable. There is no comparison (motion capture performance, art, etc. ) If some game doesn't sell it's not a problem of a system it's a problem of the game itself especially on the very beginning. They just can't provide a new title of a big franchise every 9 months. I believe even Square-Enix can destroy FF and DQ franchise if they won't be moderate. Sega has problem with VF already, RR, DMC is dying too... They just have to provide something new. |
Regardless on whether you believe the numbers that he puts on, higher development costs act like a double edged sword for game developers. Higher development costs mean that you need strong sales performance fromg games so you have to take far less risks (meaning evolutionary game design rather than revolutionary game design); at the same time for games to maintain their sales with each iteration you have to make large changes (improvements) in how the game plays.
Essentially, if you take risks you can lose a lot of money immediately because the game does not sell well ... if you don't take risks you will lose a lot of money over time as the series becomes stagnant.
