HappySqurriel on 22 February 2008
| Griffin said: I'm pretty sure the Top Nintendo games cost 20mil aswell. I've heard reports before that SMG was 20mil, i have no doubt the other big Nintendo games cost over12mil to make. |
It may have cost $20 Million, but I doubt that number without any source associated with it ...
I think people are trying to use one or two data points to try to make generalizations which doesn't work. What we do know which is (pretty much) undisputed is:
- XBox 360 and PS3 games require a larger quantity of more varied graphical assets in order to populate the environment to give it a more realistic appearance.
- XBox 360 and PS3 games require much higher quality graphical assets which require more time modeling (often requiring a high quality model for normal mapping, and a lower quality in game model), animating (the absence of subtile motions in animations on high quality characters is one of the main problems that gives characters a dead look), and texturing (often involving higher detail textures with more layers).
- XBox 360 and PS3 games require more work in improving the simulation of the world; objects will require a work in order to get them to react as expected in the physics engine, and you will set up "hints" (like good cover points, hiding places, etc.) for the AI in order to make it seem more intelligent.
When you add all the extra time together the estimates of 2 to 4 times the budget requirements of previous generation games to produce a similar PS3 and XBox 360 game make sense.
Certainly, Wii games (due to their similarity to previous generation games) will probably approach $20 Million at the upper limit; but these games are similar in scope to the Metal Gear Solid 4s which have a development team of 200 people, a development lifecycle of 3 years, and a (rumored) budget of $70 Million.
