Xbox Game Studios chief says people need to realise games now take 4-6 years to make

[sonicclaasic]

https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/xbox-game-studios-chief-says-people-need-to-realise-games-now-take-4-6-years-to-make/

Quote

Xbox Game Studios chief Matt Booty has said that both game players and the industry in general need to realise that most big games now have development cycles of around half a decade.

In an interview with Axios, Booty said: “I think that the industry and the fans were a little behind the curve on sort of a reset to understand that games aren’t two or three years anymore.”

Specifically referring to high-end big-budget games, Booty added that now “they’re four, and five, and six years”.

While the Xbox 360 and PS3 generation saw a plethora of large franchises releasing as many as three games in a series in the space of one console – Gears of War, Halo (3, Reach, 4) and Uncharted, for example – the Xbox One and PS4 generation saw this frequency slow significantly due to the increase in game budgets and the number of people working on individual titles.

What's everyone take on this? It can take years on new games depending what game Is In development and new generations & technology as well.

[Kazhnuz]

My take here is that nowadays, mainstream games cost way too much to make, and that's a huge part of some problems with the videogames industries (other than the common "they're being assholish as shit toward their employees"). The games needing time to be made isn't an issue in itself, but the whole situation it's part of is detrimental to the richness of the industry.

So IMO, people needs to know that situation and certainly shouldn't think stuff like "bad videogame dev lazy, they make less games" (which is a real take I've seen, and god I wished for these persons to walk on lego for the rest of their lives), but I disagree that we should accept its premise (games should take more budget and stuff) like that.

[Tornado]

I mean is it really surprising? Squeenix somehow spent a hundred million dollars on Forspoken, for crying out loud. It's not sustainable, but none of them are going to stop until one of the big publishers takes a huge bath on something and nearly goes under.

 

 

It will probably be Ubisoft.

[sonicclaasic]

1 hour ago, Kazhnuz said:

My take here is that nowadays, mainstream games cost way too much to make, and that's a huge part of some problems with the videogames industries (other than the common "they're being assholish as shit toward their employees"). The games needing time to be made isn't an issue in itself, but the whole situation it's part of is detrimental to the richness of the industry.

So IMO, people needs to know that situation and certainly shouldn't think stuff like "bad videogame dev lazy, they make less games" (which is a real take I've seen, and god I wished for these persons to walk on lego for the rest of their lives), but I disagree that we should accept its premise (games should take more budget and stuff) like that.

You made some great points there I totally agree with you as well.

[Tornado]

The particularly impressive part is that game budgets have ballooned completely out of control over the course of the previous console cycle and the end results have production values that aren't terribly different from high budget AAA games from midway through the PS360 generation anyway.

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

A lil off topic, but I would kick both of my parents between the legs with an iron boot for giving me the last name “Booty.”

As for my take, I would have to ask what and how their budgeting is going when it comes to development.

More controversial, I think this might wind up shifting peoples thoughts on using AI to make development easier. But don’t @ me on this take.

[Dreadknux]

The thing is, I just don't see how that length of development time benefits... anyone?

For consumers, it's a little bit spooky to think about a scenario where you might end up playing a new breakout IP and its hit sequel - two games - in TEN YEARS. A decade of your life, enjoying two whole games. I already feel like I'm crumbling to dust when I remember that the PS4's launch was a decade ago... it's a huge chunk of time. For some people, the new dev cycle could be the difference between being in high school and finishing college. You could be starting university when a game begins development, and be already graduated, married and have a baby by the time it's on store shelves!

For developers, I just don't see the appeal either (unless you're a big name developer, you're working on a labour of love or it's something you know is going to be a surefire hit). Many projects get delayed or cancelled, and for people who are just starting in the industry, having credits on completed games to your name is incredibly important - something that is literally unattainable until a game is on store shelves (IF it hits store shelves). Todd Howard doesn't have to worry about his career so much by spending a decade bunkered down working on Starfield, but a junior designer or story planner might just be wondering if they'll ever get to see their name in lights (and hope it's not terrible so they can be guaranteed future work).

And then you zoom out to the corporate level, and you're looking at companies like Microsoft who have been flailing about a bit with its Xbox brand because the games they have in development are taking 4-6 years to make, and almost all of them started development at the same time so they've spent the last three years stuck with a console that "has no games" (I know that's not true, but perception is everything).

I do get that games have to look graphically impressive - and don't get me wrong, I was floored by how Fable looked at the Xbox showcase. No doubt that will be a game that truly requires that amount of development time to look like that. But in a post-pandemic world where everyone has seemingly become accustomed to games releasing cross-gen these days, I think it's safe to say that game publishers can afford to not spend so much time on 90% of their projects and still have their games look (and more importantly, run) great.