Take Two: PS4 And Xbox 720 Game Development Costs To Be Similar To Current Gen Consoles

"Take Two CEO Strauss Zelnick has revealed in an investor’s call that next generation game development on the PS4 and Xbox 720 will be similar in costs compared to current generation consoles i.e. the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360"

[black911]

Next Gen hasn't even been announced yet.

[PirateThom]

Doesn't mean developers don't already have dev kits ready to go.

Just because we don't know about it, doesn't mean big developers don't.

[Crazyglues]

"Development Costs To Be Similar To Current Gen Consoles" -This is actually a good thing...

Should mean the games stay at the same price point. hopefully..

I guess you could also read this to mean the Games are designed for high-end PC's and then scaled down to consoles... so even with some new tricks in the new consoles - better memory, better physics's better performance..

-They are still not pass a high-end PC's so you don't need bigger teams to make the games, you just can now do more things..

More people on screen, more online players at the same time, better graphics, bigger explosions and stuff happening at the same time..

I'm sure most of these developers have already designed a version of there game that runs on the next gen developer kits..

(As we get closer to the release of the new consoles I think it's possible we will see games having a dual release, -an Xbox360 and a NextXbox release as well as a PS3 and PS4 release)

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[Crazyglues]

-Looks at the Disagrees...Really?

Actually maybe not GTA V because they seem to just be working on getting the game done...

-but games like Battlefield 4 and COD Modern Warfare 4

could both see a dual release, because the BF4 beta is on PS3.. And EA already stated they poured 80 million into the next gen console software..

so why wouldn't they also make a PS4 version as well.. Especially if your going to have a PC version..?

Why do people disagree with that ???

[-MD-]

Games built for next gen consoles have been in the works for well over a year by now. Especially if they plan on launching the consoles this fall.

[Spinal]

The next consoles are not launching in Fall. Not in the UK not in the US.

When have they ever Announced and Released a console in the Same year? It doesn't happen. And it won't happen.

They use the year gap to make sure they got the products in mass production.

[tigertron]

"When have they ever announced and released a console in the same year?"

Uh...2005. 360 announced and released in the same year.

[SolidStoner]

@tigertron

it seems now we know what happens when you rush things up..

[Kaiou]

Oh mi guaad , u r rite , we shod just ignore the news then.

[3-4-5]

Yes it has....

Games are already being mad for it.

Are you _____ or just _______ ???

They don't announce a System and then magically games are created right from thin air..

They have to have games to demonstrate to us right ? Who makes those ?

Do you even think before you talk / type ?

[aceitman]

the 360 released the same year it was announced at e3 2005 , here is a video of it at the 9:26 mark.
http://www.youtube.com/watc...
so if the 360 can release 5 months after e3 sony can do the same 10 months away.

[DeadManMcCarthy]

I wonder if the next gens will still use discs. discs are very limited, i hope they put them on some type of sd card or something. not a small sd card but big enough so it wont be lost.

[JAM_brz]

sorry man, but doing that will only make the games more expensives. Think about it...

BluRays have 100gb (Am I wrong?) in a dual layer disc. We don't need more space than that.

[RevXM]

I dont think capacity is his concern at all. Read and seeking times is. Wich is why a flash format would be good, but now isnt the time yet. The option to install games should do the trick.
I hope sony chooses ssd as standard on ps4. Games that takes advantage of faster storage will run infinitively more fluid loading and install times would be shortened a lot to. Who doesnt hate 30 minute installs like GT5?

8x or 12x bd speed and a ssd and Ill be damned happy.

[Wigriff]

In addition to what RevXM said, I would be careful about saying "we will never need more space." I remember when my Performa 6200cd came with a 500GB hard drive, and I was like, "How the hell could anyone ever fill up or use 500GB?" I remember when games came on floppy discs. We will eventually need more room. We always do.

JAM is right, though: the whole reason that consoles went to a disc based system – as well as the reason companies like Squaresoft abandoned the N64 – is because discs are infinitely cheaper to produce than cartridges or proprietary media.

[RevXM]

Yeah well we will need more space eventually. But when even ps3 is capable of reading 400+ gigabyte discs I think we would be safe with the ps4 featuring blu-ray. I cant imagine games filling out 400 gb with anything useful the next few years. But heck much can happen i theory.

[kneon]

What's so limiting about discs? Bluray can hold up to 133GB and can reach read speeds over 60MB/s.

But I don't expect a top end drive for next gen, they would be too noisy at those speeds, it will probably be in the 6-8x range which means 27-36 MB/s

[ps3_pwns]

development shouldn't cost more i mean haven't pc gamers been getting games with better graphics and such for their super super high end expensive pc's? So if pc devs can make these games and only charge 50 bucks to sell them on pc then console devs can to.

[Gamer39]

Development costs to be similar to current gen consoles=Not huge leap current and next-gen.

[rainslacker]

Looking from an art standpoint, most assets are made in higher quality and then down-sampled both polygon wise and texture resolution wise. In theory this would make the game cheaper to make because less time would have to be spent optimizing art assets. However, given that more polys and bigger textures could be used it means that some games could have more assets which could cause the cost to increase. Most development tends to be a give or take scenario, so it will depend on what the developer wants to focus on.

[Gamer39]

Yes its true. Ok, ok, maybe not huge leap, maybe. This simple theory nothing more.

[rainslacker]

I think the leap depends on what your looking for. If your looking for the leap like between the PS1 to PS2, or PS2 to PS3, then no it probably won't be a huge leap...at least not early in the gen.

Graphics themselves have gotten rather realistic, although there are often obvious shortcomings even on the best looking games that make it obvious it's rendered. Those kinds of things will still be around, but draw distances, lighting effects, and particle effects should all get better. Other things like better AA and larger, more detailed textures will also improve the graphics, but the leap may not be as extreme as prior generations. We're certainly not going to see details as good as say Avatar or Advent Children. I think higher resolutions and smoother frame rates would be pretty good.

[JAM_brz]

If Take Two say so, I believe... ;-)

[Jadedz]

Usually game development cost rises as hardware is improved. Either they'll continue to use the same GTA IV engine (with modified tweaks), or they won't be utilizing next-gen's hardware capabilities early on.

[Gamer39]

Yes this logical, agree.

[AtomicGerbil]

The game engines have already outgrown the hardware.

Less optimizing on new hardware means less time and money spent.

[TheEnigma313]

This is great to hear. I don't want to see anymore good devs shutting their doors.

[g-nome]

So the games cannot cost more.

[J_Cob]

So hopefully next gen games don't jump up another $10 like they did this gen. Knowing publishers this gen though they'll do it if they can get away with it.

[dcbronco]

I hope most will stay the same. I wouldn't be surprise for 'ol Bobby Kotick to try to push a hike on CoD.

[Starfox17]

As long as Sony/Microsoft keep this twin relationship of sharing most games none will become as big as Nintendo in my eyes,in other words basically if u have a ps4 u essentially have a 720 and vice versa,originality is key bur takes guts all Sony and Microsoft do is have this fusion like their scared to go alone ?

[Donnieboi]

Lol yeah whatever u gotta tell yourself in order to make the Wii U look like a viable alternative. Lololol.

[Starfox17]

So they never got called the HD twins then ? OK mate,ive seen Xenoblade and Beyonetta2 wiiu they look like a massive jump from current HD consoles so i'm happy,cant wait to see Metroid/Concept GP/Mariokart/Mario/Starfox/Sma sh bros ect ect after seing them graphics.

In fact the first thing i thought when i saw Xenoblade wiiu was wow that is something i havn't seen before in terms of graphics defo nextgen.

[torchic]

halfway through reading your post I quickly glanced up to check your username.

so delusional.

[juandren]

I don't think you have any idea what you're talking about, do you?

[solid_warlord]

I bet the games will still cost more. £50-£60 and will stay there. Look at Wii U..the games are basically the same port yet cost more. Excuses will be made particularly from EA and Activision.

I predict EA will require a Code once the game is booted, then a code to play the campaign, then an online multiplayer code to play just online. Then another code to get access to special features. This also does not include DLC's and other on disc unlocks.

[jacksheen0000]

Game Development cost depends on many factor whether its cost higher or lower to make.

Personally, I think dev game cost won't be much higher than last gen dev game cost.

That being said, Development tools works a lot more efficiently; there's now much faster compiling of game code which saves time & money, Visual Effects & lighting are now done in real time, multiply light sources and better dark shadows will give Dev the ability to hide unwanted scene/spot yet allowing for better Polygons usage/Texture filling.

Physics and collisions engine are now better/easy to work with which also saves time & money. More Tweaking/code compiling will happen more often due to how user friendly these tools has now become.

Prime example: lets take a look at the Zelda demo, shall we.

Ok, Gears 3 has way more graphics(character model/object) on screen while the Zelda demo has less character model/object on screen compared to gears.

So why did the Zelda demo looked better than Gears? Its was mainly because of the multiply dark shadows/multiply light sources that was implemented to the demo which not only looks better but its allow one to see more debt graphically wise.

On the Flip side of things, the only things I can think of that will drive the dev cost up is adding multiply controller function to one game like the Wii U. Perhaps this is why a lot of 3rd dev have already abandon/avoid adding any functions to the Wii U's game-pad.
That double the work. Not only does Dev have to program for the Pro controller they have to program functions to the wii U's gamepd as well which in fact will drive the cost up for every game Nintendo put out on the market.

[cleft5]

I am sure that the development cost for the ps3/360 games that are essentially ports for the ps4/720 will be similar in development cost. Development cost for ps3/360 games didn't start sky rocketing from the ps2/xbox cost until game companies started creating games specifically for that platform. We will see how similar those costs are in a year when the big companies are competing with one another for the top market share.

[kwyjibo]

This is good news - games are already stupid expensive to make.

That the PS4/XboxNext/PC all use the same architecture should offset the cost of multi-platform development. The money saved there could then be invested into higher quality environments.

[Skate-AK]

I could see them being less. Also launch games will be of higher quality cause a lot of the big first and third parties already have their engines next gen ready. DICE, Avalanche Studios, CD Projekt RED, Epic, Crytek, Ubisoft and more. There should be no reason for another game like HAZE to launch with PS4/720.

[HITANDRUN]

cost has always gone up on the console department, it cost more to make cartridges when replaced by disk and yet we still paid more lol... Again sony and MS will be even, but if they block used games and I meant anyone that does sony or ms, I wont buy their console. I will go retro with wiiu if they baned used games on it. My game, my console, my online, dont tell me how to used it.

[Sketchy_Galore]

That's good news considering the problems we're already seeing with studios having to dumb their games down and market them to the lowest common denominator idiot frat boy for fear of not recouping their development costs.

[DivineAssault]

The new engines are built to be easy to use & actually cut workloads from people so i wouldnt doubt it..

[slugg]

Companies say this, and will also announce that new game prices won't go up....to try and mitigate the sting of blocking used games on console?

[turgore]

Crysis looked next gen in 2007. Didn't cost to develop any more than the average game.

[DwightOwen]

That's because Crytek didn't have to worry about hardware limitations or optimization with the PC platform.

You'd think more devs would get the clue: Make and release your game on PC where its dirt cheap to produce and THEN port it to consoles if there is a demand for it.