The decisions that certain people within the gaming industry make don’t just affect them or the people immediately below them. It can affect the entire company, and sometimes, the entire gaming industry itself. That is what the industry is in a huge state of flux right now, as the decisions of certain individuals are causing games to take incredibly long to make, not release in their proper state, and thus, not make the profit many at the top were hoping for. That led to numerous layoffs, and the European head of Bandai Namco had some interesting thoughts on this matter and the current state of gaming itself.
In a chat with GameIndustry.biz, Arnaud Muller noted previously that he felt 2024 was to be the “year of stabilization,” which is a bit curious for obvious reasons. As “stable” is definitely not what is happening, nor does it seem to be “stabilizing” in the near future. He also went on to note that he felt 2025 would be a much better year for the gaming industry and the teams within it, such as Bandai Namco, but only time will tell on that front.
Arguably, his biggest “take” from that interview was the idea of launching new IPs rather than sticking with “safe bets.”
“Are there safe bets today in the market? I believe yes, because some IPs still have traction, and some studios have the credentials to produce games that are going to appeal to a certain audience. But I think what we’re seeing – and it’s no different to the other publishers – is that launching a new IP has become more and more difficult. The cost of development has increased, and the time for development has increased as well, so you need to factor this new risk paradigm into your decision-making process. You need to factor in a certain level of overspending on development and the possibility of delays from day one. If not, you’re in for some bad surprises.”
On certain levels, he’s not wrong. However, that doesn’t include the “elephant in the room,” as it is also about making a quality title from the start. Case in point, a brand-new IP is about to drop from Atlus and be very different tonally and visually from past games they’ve made, and it has the highest Metacritic score in 2024. If sales back it up, that means this wasn’t a risk, because the team made a quality title. You could argue the same with Nintendo making both a Princess Peach and Princess Zelda solo game in 2024 alone.
The real problem is that many developers and publishers sometimes think that the “safe bets” will eternally be safe and that they can “skimp on the quality,” and that’s what’s led to so many layoffs in the last few years.
