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Cost of making games


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#1 currysonic

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Posted 23 March 2013 - 06:56 AM

Hi forum go-ers!

I was finished Sonic the Hedgehog (1991) the other day and I noticed on the credits it was basically 10 core people who made the game.

It made me think. Now adays it takes a team of more than 100 core people to make a game, maybe 2-8 years depending on staff and ambition but costs in the order of hundred million dollars to make full use of todays consol hardware. With the new step up in consol hardware do you think it will cost even more to make games that take full advantage of the hardware?

Also, do you think the market is big enough to support these new super-games? I mean it takes like a million copies just to break even when making games that use full advantage of the system. If theres only 3 million fishes in the sea and only 1 million that take your bait well, would it be worth it to still keep fishing? 

I personally think if there are less hardcore gamers in this next generation we might just see cost cutting measures in development and thus very few games will actually use what the next gen consols and pc's are capable of. When you really think about it, the best looking games are the big titles with long lineages (Battlefield, CoD, Elder Scrolls, Zelda). 

Some notes: By full advantage I mean make full use of the available power. So most Indie games don't (well they don't have the staff or money) take full advantage of the potential of the system.


Edited by currysonic, 23 March 2013 - 06:59 AM.


#2 Fiery

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Posted 23 March 2013 - 07:08 AM

A LOT OF MONEY. It costs more than all the people on this forum COMBINED.



#3 BanjoKazooie

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Posted 23 March 2013 - 07:13 AM

CoD is NOT one of the best looking games, and neither is the Elder Scrolls. However the elder scrolls is worth the 60 bucks, while new CoD games are made in a year and are basically just a crappy 60$ Rip off with 10 maps and only 2 of them are good. Than they make you pay 60$ more for 20 new maps, which only 4 are good. Also you can get shot in te knee with a sniper and die immediately. Basically CoD sucks major a** IMO. At least BF is somewhat fun.

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#4 tboss

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Posted 23 March 2013 - 07:15 AM

they just need shear manpower to make the environments and effects. i see the prices from that just going up, until they find easier and quicker ways to do it. 

 

quickest way i can think of wont be available any time soon. (get thing(no idea what it would be called) to kenect to the developers spinal cord/nervs, let it read info, and allow it to litterly put what being imagined streight into the game.(preferably for map builds/art/textures, ect)). that wont work with AI or physics... but it will help what might be the longest part of development.



#5 currysonic

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Posted 23 March 2013 - 07:26 AM

CoD is NOT one of the best looking games, and neither is the Elder Scrolls. However the elder scrolls is worth the 60 bucks, while new CoD games are made in a year and are basically just a crappy 60$ Rip off with 10 maps and only 2 of them are good. Than they make you pay 60$ more for 20 new maps, which only 4 are good. Also you can get shot in te knee with a sniper and die immediately. Basically CoD sucks major a** IMO. At least BF is somewhat fun.

Hahaha, I wouldn't know. My laptop can only play games on lowest settings now. I have no personal experience with how great games could really look, only from what other people say.



#6 3Dude

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Posted 23 March 2013 - 07:40 AM


1. Yes, they will become more expensive.
2. No, the industry cannot support it. Even the biggest studios are just 1 flop away from going down, and they are dropping like flies, even giants like thq. Thats why publishing houses pay so much money to ensure game journalists tell the brainwashed masses what games to buy.


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#7 Abcdude

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Posted 23 March 2013 - 08:56 AM

It depends really, if you want to make an indie game, I doubt it would cost that much, it all really depends on what kind of resources you have.


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#8 alan123

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Posted 23 March 2013 - 09:23 AM

the more powerful the hardware the more people are needed to make the games, one reason is because there needs to be a lot more detail, also gamers want more interaction within the game.



#9 SoldMyWiiUAndLeftTheForums

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Posted 23 March 2013 - 10:07 AM

With the way things are games are gonna cost more and to be honest in this climate we are in now I can honestly see another industry crash coming this gen it looks like it could already be starting. Also with the rumors posted about the Xbox 720 dev kit codenamed Durango 2 days ago actually showing pictures of the instruction manuel it says that all Xbox 720 games must be installed to the system and that the discs will not be used during gameplay. Also NextBox will only work when connected to the internet in other words the console has some form of DRM built in. So many hardcore fans of the Xbox have actually said that if all this plays out to be true it's by by Xbox, hello PS4 and Wii U! With Microsoft trying to capture more of an audience than just gamers I honestly think my fiancee was right, If any of the big 3 are leaving the console race this gen it's Microsoft, just look at what the Xbox fanboys are saying about it themselves, the next year or so will sure be interesting. If you wanna read the article just check IGN and look what Xbox fans are saying too.



#10 Tom

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Posted 23 March 2013 - 03:26 PM

I'm thinking game companies will soon do a lot of recycling of models, textures, sounds and the like in order cut the costs of producing the games down by a few million.

 

If Call of Duty and New Super Mario Bros. can do it without a hitch, then probably so can other companies.


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