An anonymous source (is there any other type?) has told GamesIndustry.Biz that the development costs for Microsoft’s next-gen console, codename Durango, are double the cost of developing for the Xbox 360.
The sharp increase in cost is due to the higher polygon counts and better textures.
“I’m having to double my budget for models,” said the source who is working on ‘a sequel to an earlier title that appeared on Xbox 360 and PS3.’
We shall just pause while you all try and work out the mystery game –  my money is on GTAV. Everyone had a think? Good, let’s continue.
So, next gen games are going to cost more to make, how will publishers recoup the costs? Well there are rumours of both Sony and Microsoft ‘locking’ a game to a console, effectively killing the pre-owned market. Subscription models such as Call Of Duty Elite may be another way to generate revenue.
Whatever happens, consumers are going to have to pay for the increased cost of game development. I doubt we will be paying £80 per title, perhaps £65 per game?
Source: GamesIndustry.Biz
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BS
Doubling the time taken to craft one aspect of the game wouldn’t double the cost of game development… There’s more to a game than just drawing textures, in fact doubling the detail of those textures (for eg) wouldn’t even double the cost of drawing them
Workshed
To be fair you would also be creating vastly more detailed models – the textures themselves probably wouldn’t be much of a problem.
hazelam
but don’t they create more detailed models to begin with and simplify them for the final games?
i’m sure i’ve seen dev diaries and making of videos where they do that.
Workshed
Yeah that does happen quite a lot but they may not do that for everything, map, etc.
On the other hand any games which are also being made for PC will probably have more detailed models and textures anyway…
cc_star
£60+ for a game… which is exactly the same as games already around but with some more pixels? F off
Something close enough will be around for a fiver on my tablet.
baggyg
I dont think Double the Polygons = Double the cost. More for sure, but double – I doubt it
DJ Judas
Yes dev costs will go up, as they always do, but most devs should be simplifying hi-res models and compressing hi-res textures to fit current machines anyway as this is good practice rather than creating low-res assets.
AG2297
I cant see myself ever spending more than £40 on a game. Even then I’d only buy one or two at that price a year while I wait for all the other games to come down to £20 (which they do). Looking at the speed at which games come down in price (in the UK at least) I cant see them thinking a higher release day cost for the game is going to do much for them money wise.
gaffers101
I agree. If games become locked to a console then I’ll just buy 2 months after release when the prices drop. The only thing we’ll miss out on is pre-order DLC, but that usually becomes available at a later date too.
Nocure-fd
The prices only drop so much these days because they have to compete with the pre-owned market. If games become locked to consoles then you can kiss good-bye to timely price drops.
This next generation may well see me wash my hands of a console entirely to switch back to PC.
gazzagb
If this actually happens, I’m abandoning ship, buying a decent gaming pc and will enjoy Steam. Seriously, no way can I see console gaming doing well if it’s that expensive.
carson321
hold on, how can it cost twice as much to develop better models for more detailed textures?! seems like a huge exageration! Doubling the cost of anything should be an absolutely massive step up in performance etc, far more than going from one gen to the next
Severn2j
PCs have been running at much higher resolutions for a long time and they don’t have higher dev costs. I run everything at 1080p on PC and all games cater for it. How much did it cost Bethesda to release the HD textures for Skyrim? Next to nothing, I reckon considering the modding community did it unofficially, months before Bethesda did.
If you want to save money, cut your marketing budget. I hear that can account for half the dev costs on its own.
Also, the cost of development doesnt really have a bearing on the individual unit price. You could just as easily sell them for £10 instead of £40 and shift five times as many units, due to people being happier to drop £10 on a game than £40.. As Steam sales show us, drop the price by 80% and watch sales rise by 1700%. Its not like the packaging is a huge percentage of the cost.
cc_star
Good point, PC games run at higher res than the next console gen will be able to & their standard pricing is £29.99… Add on the licenence fee to the platform holder MS/Sony and you arrive at the normal figure
Where the industry can make a case for a price increase though, they’ll do it like they have done with £55 for CoD & FIFA but they’re just about the only titles that can support it, away from them a couple of others the business model for £40 boxed games is broken and there pressure for variable pricing, something Sony has responded to with the Vita… as time goes on that will pressure will only increase especially as they’ll be so many alternatives to forking out £250-£400 for a console & £55+ for each game you buy
Tuffcub
COD is already £55, I can easily see Acti shoving a tenner or two on top of that for Next Gen
Awayze
I hope Sony’s PS4 has better hardware.
cc_star
I hope it has normal hardware that doesn’t take 3 or 4 years to get a grasp of & also so that PS4 games aren’t hindered with by reduced framerates & textures in comparison to MS & PC versions, unless the devs go overboard which they’ve only done rarely for obvious cost reasons.
hazelam
i hope it has a shedload more ram.