The video game industry continues to see a rise in development costs for new projects. With each new console generation comes more power under the hood. Developers can take advantage of this power by raising the bar even higher for what players can expect. We’ll get bigger and more immersive gameplay experiences. However, those big AAA game releases usually come at a steep price for development studios. Nintendo, for one, is exploring ways to reduce costs for future game projects.
Nintendo is riding the wave of its latest Switch 2 console release. This was a console that players worldwide had been waiting for. Instead of innovating and offering a unique experience, Nintendo is playing it safe. Instead, what we’re getting is a far more powerful Switch console. That’s giving developers more power to create new games and allow for newer titles to see a release on the Switch 2 alongside its rival platforms.
However, thanks to a report from GameSpot, we’re learning that during recent investor calls with Nintendo, the topic of development costs came up. The president of the company, Shuntaro Furukawa, noted that recently, we’re seeing game development costs increasing in scale, which in turn requires longer development times. While the president noted that the game business has always been a high-risk endeavor, they acknowledged that rising development costs are only increasing the risk developers must take.
As a result, Nintendo will continue to make some necessary investments for efficient development. However, they also note that they believe it’s possible to develop game software with shorter development periods, while still offering consumers a sense of novelty.
Just what games will be deemed to feature a shorter development cycle remains a mystery. Of course, we’re also uncertain about the future of game development and AI. For instance, a former Rockstar Games developer noted that they believe GTA 7 will not require as long a development cycle due to AI, which will help lower game development costs. While AI is a hot topic, we’ve heard that others in the gaming industry, such as the director behind Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2, are hopeful that AI will speed up game development cycles, as they’ve more ideas for games than time to bring them to fruition.
