G2ThaUNiT said:
Japanese game companies seem to have their budgets in check. Seeing releases such as Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth, Persona 3 Reload, and Granblue Fantasy: Relink selling 1 million copies and have it be cause for celebration whereas in the west numbers like that would be deemed as a complete failure. Then again, idk the cost of living in Japan. I know in places like NYC, $100K has the same buying power as having $35K. A lot of major companies are based in California where like Ryuu mentioned, has an absurd cost of living. So if you want to bring on a good developer, that's six figures for just one. Then multiply that by hundreds, if not thousands. |
Yeah, I think gaming studios in the US and Canada made a big mistake putting their studios in or near high cost of living cities like Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, Austin, Montreal, Vancouver, and Toronto. The fact that so many western AAA cities are congregated in those cities are a big part of the balooning AAA budget problem. I mean look at this map of the highest and lowest cost of living large cities in the US:
I can't think of a Single AAA developer (or even AA for that matter) that is headquartered in one of those 10 lowest cost of living cities, meanwhile out of the 10 highest cost of living cities there I know of game studios in San Diego, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle, Bethesda, and New York City.
Like you said, Japan has managed to keep their budgets much more in check, and part of that is because the cost of living and therefore developer pay is lower over there. Alan Wake 2 and Lords of the Fallen last year are two other examples, they are two of the most recent games we know the budgets for. Remedy is in low cost of living Espoo Finland, which according to this page has has 25% lower non-rent cost of living than New York City and 72% lower rent than NYC. I'm sure that is a big part of why Remedy were able to develop Alan Wake 2 for just €50m (plus €20m marketing), it was the one of the most expensive productions ever in Finland, but compared to most US and Canada AAA games it's budget wasn't even half of what they spend. Lords of the Fallen meanwhile was made by Hexworks last year for $66m USD in combined development, marketing, and physical edition production costs, a really low number compared to most US and Canada produced video games. Hexworks is headquartered in 2 cities, Barcelona Spain and Bucharest Romania, which as you can see here and here, both cities have way lower cost of living than NYC.
I really think that the western gaming industry should consider moving some of their studios to lower cost of living areas, the cost of the move will be far offset by the lower salaries they will be able to pay after the move, since employees will have just as much buying power in their local area despite being paid less. At the very least new studios that are opening should be opened in low-mid cost of living areas instead of the highest cost of living areas.
Last edited by shikamaru317 - on 15 February 2024
