We're all aware that the gaming industry is facing a bit of a crisis when it comes to big titles. Back in the day, we'd get some really massive games every month, but now the release lists are looking pretty empty.
Many games take so long to develop that they skip whole console generations (no main The Elder Scrolls or Grand Theft Auto titles came to PlayStation 4 or Xbox One), even though it used to be common for entire trilogies to be released for the same format (such as Gears of War or Mass Effect). This also affects Nintendo, which has just released Switch 2.
During a Q&A session for investors, one participant expressed concern about increased development costs for Switch 2 titles, which could lead to fewer and more expensive games, potentially resulting in a decline in the number of players. Nintendo CEO Shuntaro Furukawa acknowledged the concern and explained that it is something they have considered and are trying to address:
"Recent game software development has become larger in scale and longer in duration, resulting in higher development costs. The game business has always been a high-risk business, and we recognize that rising development costs are increasing that risk.
"Our development teams are devising various ways to maintain our traditional approach to creating games amidst the increasing scale and length of development. We believe it is important to make the necessary investments for more efficient development."
One way they want to approach the problem is by simply shortening development times, although Furukawa does not give any specific examples:
"We also believe it is possible to develop game software with shorter development periods that still offer consumers a sense of novelty. We see this as one potential solution to the concern about rising development costs and software prices, and we will explore it from various angles within the company."
Shorter development times would be welcome, but what do you think, is it possible to achieve it with the same quality, or will Nintendo and their fans also have to learn to live with unreasonably long development times?