Game development costs are increasing
In this first graph from ArsTechnica, the left hand side represents the average amount of people working on a game. This figure has been increasing less than exponentially. This isn't really the frightening bit. The frightening bit is shown in the text in the x axis, you will realise that since the 16 bit era, cost of making a game has gone from an average of $0.05 million minimum, to an average of $17 million minimum, so its become at least 340 TIMES more expensive to make games since then !!
This second graph just shows game development costs (previous showed both gaming development costs and number of people working on them). Data is from ArsTechnica If this graph is even 50% accurate (i.e if 50% was the margin of error), then it would mean the average cost of making a next gen game in 2012 would be $25 million minimum, if its 100% accurate then the average cost of making a game in 2012 would be $50 million. Lets get straight to the point. This seems unsustainable. Lets make a new word up, call it "market entry figure". It represents an average developers view, on what the user base of a video game console should be before they start developing/making games on that console. This "market entry figure" has surely been increasing every generation. By Human nature, if something is risky, you are less likely to do it. Hence I speculate the following:
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Helldivers 2 has become the talk of the town as players are seen discussing the game in real life with their friends and even strangers.
It's a sure sign of scraping the bottom of the barrel when you are "creating" "news" out of Reddit posts.
Stellar Blade launches tomorrow, and that’s just the beginning of Eve’s mission to save humanity one slice at a time. Today we at Shift Up are excited to reveal that New Game Plus will be coming to Stellar Blade at launch on April 26, so players can continue their journey across Xion after the credits roll. The new mode included expanded gear levels, new costumes to wear, and a suite of new skills.
Everyone expected that the Order to defend 10 planets would fail. But, Helldivers 2 players did the impossible, surprising everyone.
This is the price of wanting "next-gen" hardware out on the market. Rising development costs as a result of "next-gen" graphics engines and the manpower needed to run them just to make decent use of that "next-gen" hardware. The irony of it all is that today's video games cost less than they did 20 years ago.
I'd like to see the numbers of incoming revenue from games during these eras. It's obvious the price of game development will rise as the industry goes and from inflation, but the number u need to examine is the money coming in now comparitive to older eras. That will better tell you if gaming is in trouble or not.
Let's count on the indies then :')