With studios folding by the dozen due to the weight of increasing development budgets, many analysts have questioned how teams will survive the transition to the impending next generation. However, chatting with Gamasutra immediately after last night’s Killzone: Shadow Fall reveal, Guerrilla Games’ managing director Herman Hulst has indicated that the costs aren’t as great as you might think.
“I can very simply share with you that when we did Killzone 2 and Killzone 3, we probably maxed out with a team size of 125,” he said. “We have 150 now, so it's marginally bigger. This is about a two-and-a-half year development cycle, which is roughly similar. It includes a hardware transition, so that explains potentially the six months of extra time."
Hulst added that the developer has invested heavily into its tools, allowing it to “develop smart”. The studio also learned greatly from its time spent working on the PlayStation 3. “It's not as scary as maybe some people have led you to believe,” he continued. “There's more art outsourcing, but that's not necessarily very expensive.”
It’s nice to know that the industry isn’t on the cusp of financial ruin, isn’t it?
[source gamasutra.com]
Comments 6
Yay that means there won't be 70$ bucks games.
That's great to hear, I would hate for games to get more expensive.
The games, starting from the most recent, critically acclaimed, finish to some older but still amazing title, are not exactly a cheap way of entertainment, unless some big discount. That's why used games have an importance, the rest is really about how much I can invest on a game I know it was made with excellent quality.
Problem is, PlayStation has LOTS of them, so it's always hard to choose which one to pick and buy.
I wonder if the developers had any say about Sony not going 4k with games. I would think all of that extra resolution would be an added expense when coding and optimizing.
Hmm, interesting comments there, especially considering someone from Naughty Dog (can't remember who) said he was terrified of the next generation.
Also, let's not forget that making AAA games is still an incredibly costly business. About 130 devs/publishers (and counting) have bought the farm this generation; a generation where 1 - 2 million sales is considered a flop (hello Darksiders and Max Payne 3).
That city was the best thing of the demo to me. Amazing and beautiful.
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