Game development costs / platform development costs

[TheMightyPuck]

Does anyone here think that as game development costs increase, platforms are going to consolidate and become meaningless? I mean which media still have proprietary platforms? Aren't we going to reach a point soon where the technology is going to be limited far more by the creativity of the content producers than the content producers by the technology? Just throwing it out there to see what the wise forum contributors have to say

 

[Blade]

A lot of people think so. I've heard Miyamoto-san bring this up a few times.

 

[zurich]

Does anyone here think that as game development costs increase, platforms are going to consolidate and become meaningless? I mean which media still have proprietary platforms? Aren't we going to reach a point soon where the technology is going to be limited far more by the creativity of the content producers than the content producers by the technology? Just throwing it out there to see what the wise forum contributors have to say

I think its pretty much a consensus that regardless of how uber-powerful the next gen systems will be, they'll all end up being artist-bottlenecked, if not $$$-bottlenecked (which goes hand in hand with the artists).

 

[Deepak]

I see nothing alarming here, it is only natural that developing costs increase as games become more complex...it is in line with other industries....

But also to keep in mind is that:

Games industry is a BIG business now bigger than Hollywood, growing at an exponential rate. More and more people are now buying consoles and this big market allows developers to invest big money into big games.

Nothing to worry, let market forces take over.

 

[Jabjabs]

Yes and No, yes if all the technology is going to be built in-house. No if middle ware become even more common with things like Renderware, Havok engine, Mathengine, etc.... We are already seeing it with Unreal engine and Q3 but it may become much more common.

 

[Qroach]

The games industry is not bigger than hollywood. That's a myth. If you add in all the DVD and VHS sales, allong with box office sales the movie industry is gigantic compared to games.

 

[London Geezer]

The games industry is not bigger than hollywood. That's a myth. If you add in all the DVD and VHS sales, allong with box office sales the movie industry is gigantic compared to games.

yes that is true. still, the videogame market has been growing esponentially since the first playstation, while Hollywood has been pretty depressed lately...

 

[Qroach]

Actually the video game industry has grown every since the NES, it goes much further back than the playstation

 

[London Geezer]

Actually the video game industry has grown every since the NES, it goes much further back than the playstation

the big boom came with the first playstation. if u put it like that, then it goes even further back than NES
the first playstation is what made videogames from toys to "things for grown ups too". the whole "from bedroom to livingroom thing".... where have u been in the last 10 years..

 

[Qroach]

Lodon-boy,

the big boom came with the first playstation. if u put it like that, then it goes even further back than NES

If you're going to have an attitude whenever you talk to people, at least be correct in what your saying.

before the NES (or after the Atari/colleco/intellivision consoles) is what some people call the video game depression. For a few years there was a complete collapse on the home video game market. Over saturation of poor titles and high prices lead to all of those oringinal consoles dying out in North America.

It wasn't UNTIL the NES came out that the market started going in the opposite direction. So you certainly can't claim that the playstaion caused a boom in the market. It was the NES that started a boom in this market. you can't go back any further than that to see the console market growing.

the first playstation is what made videogames from toys to "things for grown ups too". the whole "from bedroom to livingroom thing"....

Actually the NES was probably the first console that appealed to adults and kids, next followed by the sega genesis with most of their marketing towards teenager and it's sports titles, and then the Playstation. Playstation wasn't really marketed towards adults, it's just that the people that were younger have grown up playing video games and it was the better choice over the Sega saturn, it also had a huge number/selection of popular sports game. Historically any console that had a large number/selection of popular sports titles would typically be popular with adults.

where have u been in the last 10 years...

I've been MAKING video games for the past 10 years. Why, where have you been?

BTW, video games goes further back than 10 years son...

 

[London Geezer]

(GOD it took me ages to get this working....)

sorry if i sounded attitudey, didn't mean to...

anyway, i am fully aware of the fact that the NES pretty much saved the video games industry single handedly. maybe, probably, i didn't make myself clear.

the market is what it is now for reasons that have a lot to do with the growth in development costs AND number of hardware and software sold.

the former has had a boom with the first playstation, or at least high-budget games weren't heard of before PS1. the latter is a consequence of the former with the fact that marketing has changed drastically with Sony's way to advertise PS1 and its software.

thats what i meant.

 

[jvd]

(GOD it took me ages to get this working....)

sorry if i sounded attitudey, didn't mean to...

anyway, i am fully aware of the fact that the NES pretty much saved the video games industry single handedly. maybe, probably, i didn't make myself clear.

the market is what it is now for reasons that have a lot to do with the growth in development costs AND number of hardware and software sold.

the former has had a boom with the first playstation, or at least high-budget games weren't heard of before PS1. the latter is a consequence of the former with the fact that marketing has changed drastically with Sony's way to advertise PS1 and its software.

thats what i meant.

That is not true at all . If you take the time period and adjust for inflation you will see a standard rise with each generation. Sony did not pump anymore money into it in that sense . As a matter of fact nintendo prob spend more during the nes days . They made a movie , they had game events every year open to the public , they had a ton of comericals . They had tv shows too. So the advertising budget of nintendo was much likely higher than what sony spent back in the psx days .


Oh video games were allways adult toys. Its with the advert of the nintendo that it shifted due to the colorfull graphics.

 

[London Geezer]

That is not true at all . If you take the time period and adjust for inflation you will see a standard rise with each generation. Sony did not pump anymore money into it in that sense . As a matter of fact nintendo prob spend more during the nes days . They made a movie , they had game events every year open to the public , they had a ton of comericals . They had tv shows too. So the advertising budget of nintendo was much likely higher than what sony spent back in the psx days .


Oh video games were allways adult toys. Its with the advert of the nintendo that it shifted due to the colorfull graphics.

IF U SAY SO... :?

 

[Evil_Cloud]

The games industry is not bigger than hollywood. That's a myth. If you add in all the DVD and VHS sales, allong with box office sales the movie industry is gigantic compared to games.

Only in 2007 the games industry will become significantly bigger... but now it's not even bigger then the music biz

 

[Qroach]

sorry if i sounded attitudey, didn't mean to...

k, no worries then...

 

[Deepak]

The games industry is not bigger than hollywood. That's a myth. If you add in all the DVD and VHS sales, allong with box office sales the movie industry is gigantic compared to games.

Only in 2007 the games industry will become significantly bigger... but now it's not even bigger then the music biz

I am waiting for the day when video game characters will be more popular then movie stars.....imagine, Solid Snake overtaking Tom Cruise...

 

[aneep]

u never lnow

perhaps there will be a time when games characters starts having life outside of their own main series

-aneep-