Harada: "Development costs are now 10 times more expensive than in the 90's and more than double or nearly triple the cost of Tekken 7"

[Gamernyc78]

"Development costs are now 10 times more expensive than in the 90's and more than double or nearly triple the cost of Tekken 7. Even the Fight Lounge servers are costly to maintain. In the past there weren't so many specs and there wasn't online. Plus they didn't have such high resolution and high definition. Now, So many people want the game to run and be supported for a long time. It costs money to continually update the game for that reason. However, he probably only keeps good memories of the old games he experienced as a boy and does not pay attention to these changing times and increasing costs. The economic situation and everything else is changing. If we simply do nothing as he suggests, the game will simply stop running in a few months. I think that is what he wants. So there is no point in talking to him about these realities. He wants us to stop economic activity and stop updating and supporting the game"

 

[Gamernyc78]

The dev costs have skyrocketed so high just like everything else.

 

[Gediminas]

"Development costs are now 10 times more expensive than in the 90's and more than double or nearly triple the cost of Tekken 7. Even the Fight Lounge servers are costly to maintain. In the past there weren't so many specs and there wasn't online. Plus they didn't have such high resolution and high definition. Now, So many people want the game to run and be supported for a long time. It costs money to continually update the game for that reason. However, he probably only keeps good memories of the old games he experienced as a boy and does not pay attention to these changing times and increasing costs. The economic situation and everything else is changing. If we simply do nothing as he suggests, the game will simply stop running in a few months. I think that is what he wants. So there is no point in talking to him about these realities. He wants us to stop economic activity and stop updating and supporting the game"

Water is wet. My electric bills triple in the last 2 years, let alone 90s. Like everything else.

But we also aren't living with 90s salaries.

 

[Box]

Nobody Seems to have a real solution to this budget issue

 

[Johnic]

Scale it down, then. Why does every game need to be open world? 15 hour games are perfectly fine. Also, stop hiring famous actors for your roles.

 

[Box]

Scale it down, then. Why does every game need to be open world? 15 hour games are perfectly fine. Also, stop hiring famous actor for your roles.

I love Open world Tekken with guest stars like Ryan Gosling and Zendaya

 

[Johnic]

I love Open world Tekken with guest stars like Ryan Gosling and Zendaya

Where in my post did I mention Tekken? Dev costs have gone up across the industry. Tekken isn't the only franchise affected.

 

[Box]

Where in my post did I mention Tekken? Dev costs have gone up across the industry. Tekken isn't the only franchise affected.

My brother in Christ, this is a thread about Tekken...

 

[Danja]

Again graphics are already great. I think 4k / 8k is waste of time for games. Checkered 4k is fine upscaled. We don't need Ray Tracing in most games . We don't need everything to be open world and 40+ hours long. Not everything needs to be pushing realism.

A game like Ronin is getting flack for the graphics but even so, it's clear we need games to cut back on just chasing the best tech if its ballooning costs and increasing dev time.

 

[Darth Vader]

Yes, and

• The highest selling Tekken from the 90s sold 8.3M copies
• Tekken 7 sold 11.8M copies so far
• Corporate tax rates in japan have decreased substantially since the 90s (edit: That's also a global trend that people ignore)
• In the past 20 years productivity has increased 22.8%, however salaries only increased 2.6%
• And I'm pretty sure Namco's profit is also much higher today than it was in the 90s.

As always, people will not do any due dilligence and instead will take that as face value.

Edit: forgot to mention that, at least for the US, new game releases were $50, not $70, as far as I'm aware.

 

[Vertigo]

it’s crazy how player demands and game budgets have ballooned. That and considering current economic woes… the spreadsheet layoffs industrywide are not unsurprising considering how these last two years have been going.

I doubt anyone thinks current models are sustainable and I hope we get better and more efficient studios when the dust has settled. Although my gut tells me most will just answer with AI and that would be unfortunate.

I generally have positive outlook on the industry. New ideas are limitless and the gaming industry has been a trailblazer.

 

[xollowsob]

The reason games cost more is because of the increase in staff.

The increase in staff doesn't mean and increase in talent, the opposite is true.

Too many talentless individuals with no scope or drive are causing projects to take longer to make and ballooning costs, all while games are worse than they were in the 90s.

A series selling a few million more today, with 100s of millions of potential customers is an outright disaster when it's 90s counterpart sold a few million less than it.

Attach rate and sales as a % of gamers is in the toilet compared to the turn of the millennium.

Take a lesson from Musk; he gutted 80% of the staff at twitter and the website still works. Funny, that.

 

[Gamernyc78]

Water is wet. My electric bills triple in the last 2 years, let alone 90s. Like everything else.

But we also aren't living with 90s salaries.

Very true but idk about elsewhere but where I live salaries definitely have not kept up with exoenses.

 

[Box]

Yes, and

• The highest selling Tekken from the 90s sold 8.3M copies
• Tekken 7 sold 11.8M copies so far
• Corporate tax rates in japan have decreased substantially since the 90s (edit: That's also a global trend that people ignore)
• In the past 20 years productivity has increased 22.8%, however salaries only increased 2.6%
• And I'm pretty sure Namco's profit is also much higher today than it was in the 90s.

As always, people will not do any due dilligence and instead will take that as face value.

Edit: forgot to mention that, at least for the US, new game releases were $50, not $70, as far as I'm aware.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics' CPI Inflation Calculator, $50 in 1994 is equivalent to approximately $89.46 in 2024.

 

[Darth Vader]

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics' CPI Inflation Calculator, $50 in 1994 is equivalent to approximately $89.46 in 2024.

You did not address any of my points. Inflation is one part, and if you ONLY consider that, yes games are cheaper to purchase, however:

• Corporate profits have increased above the rate of inflation;
• Productivity has increased faster than salaries;
• Games are selling overall more copies;
• Corporate taxes have decreased globally

Very true but idk about elsewhere but where I live salaries definitely have not kept up with exoenses.

Not just where you live. Between January 2022 and today, my salary increased less than 3%. However, inflation in ireland (and we know these numbers are kind of "bullshit" everywhere you look, since they account for the whole economy and not just what affects the common buyer) was:

2022: 8%
2023: 5.3%

I'm not even arsed about calculating compound inflation there. And overall, bar some recent recovery in countries like the US, which will likely be made null by increasing layoffs, this is a tale as old as time.

 

[Gamernyc78]

You did not address any of my points. Inflation is one part, and if you ONLY consider that, yes games are cheaper to purchase, however:

• Corporate profits have increased above the rate of inflation;
• Productivity has increased faster than salaries;
• Games are selling overall more copies;
• Corporate taxes have decreased globally

Not just where you live. Between January 2022 and today, my salary increased less than 3%. However, inflation in ireland (and we know these numbers are kind of "bullshit" everywhere you look, since they account for the whole economy and not just what affects the common buyer) was:

2022: 8%
2023: 5.3%

I'm not even arsed about calculating compound inflation there. And overall, bar some recent recovery in countries like the US, which will likely be made null by increasing layoffs, this is a tale as old as time.

Yes, I am aware.

 

[ethomaz]

Water is wet. My electric bills triple in the last 2 years, let alone 90s. Like everything else.

But we also aren't living with 90s salaries.

I doubt your salary tripled like your elétrica bill…

That is the issue.
Inflection exists but it should scale in all sides.

 

[John Elden Ring]

The problem is overbudging. It makes no sense that Spider 2 costed 300 million while Elden Ring costed 80.

 

[Gediminas]

The problem is overbudging. It makes no sense that Spider 2 costed 300 million while Elden Ring costed 80.

Pfff, bro, Elden Ring has no real story, motion capture, real characters, proper voice over. Recycled animations left and right with PS4 graphics. With bugs, clipping, lack of polish which cost money etc..

But again, Elden Ring, was made in Japan, name 3-4 games with that budget in Japan?

 

[John Elden Ring]

Pfff, bro, Elden Ring has no real story, motion capture, real characters, proper voice over. Recycled animations left and right with PS4 graphics. With bugs, clipping, lack of polish which cost money etc..

But again, Elden Ring, was made in Japan, name 3-4 games with that budget in Japan?

Final Fantasy Vii Rebirth
Tekken 8
Resident Evil 4 Remake
Sekiro