Why 2015 will the best year yet for the Wii U

[Cheebee]

the_dengle said:

Cheebee said:

I honestly see no feasible scenario where Zelda U isn't more costly to develop than Skyward Sword was, in terms of resources and manpower.

Time-wise, maybe; SS did take extraordinarily long to come out (5 years). Then again, if Zelda U releases Q4 2015 it will have been 4 years in development, and should it be delayed (likely imo), it might equal SS's development cycle. But there is absolutely no possible way Zelda U will take less money and less manpower to develop than SS.

It's pretty straightforward. Skyward Sword went through development hell, we know this. It had one of the biggest dev teams of any Nintendo game ever, partly because they kept bringing more and more people into the project so they could finish the damn thing. Pay all of those people for five years.

Now look at Zelda Wii U, where they had a strong idea of the direction they wanted to take it in. They don't have to desperately scramble to expand their team. It could actually have a smaller team than Skyward Sword had because of this. Even if it is the same size or slightly larger, those developers are being paid for four years instead of five.

IF Zelda U releases by Q4 2016, which remains to be seen as it could easily slip well into 2016, then yes, it would have taken them 4 years.

Actually, your 2nd paragraph isn't true at all. SS was Nintendo's biggest project ever, but considering the resources needed for HD development compared to SD development, even getting the game done in 1 year less would still cost a LOT more in terms of manpower and resources needed. Miyamoto himself has even confirmed their HD games take about twice the manpower needed for Wii games: http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2013-07-05-miyamoto-we-underestimated-cost-of-hd-development

Paying people for 5 years for SS, as opposed to paying twice the people for 4 years (minimum) for Zelda U. It's pretty clear which is more costly.

And that's only the manpower, let alone the other resources needed; Zelda U looks set to be much, much bigger than SS ever was (which in all honesty wasn't very big at all, as most areas were re-used several times over the course of the game). Also, there is zero evidence supporting the notion that Nintendo had a strong idea of the direction they wanted to take the game/franchise in, and yes, they did have to desperately scramble to expand their teams for all their Wii U games, as Miyamoto and Iwata have stated on numerous occasions.