Back in the days of the Xbox 360 and PS3 generation, game franchises like “Uncharted” or “Gears of War” could produce a new entry every 2-3 years.
This meant that they could potentially release up to three games over the span of a console generation (about seven years). Things have changed since then, as games have gotten more complicated and generally bigger and release times between inputs have gotten longer.
The result, according to Xbox Game Studios head Matt Booty in a new interview with Axios, is that development cycles on games have effectively doubled with top development teams lucky to release more than one game per decade these days. this.
Referring specifically to high-end, big-budget games, Booty says that’s not something gamers or the industry, in general, have fully accepted:
“It surprised people in and around the game. I think the industry and the fans were a bit behind on some sort of reset to understand that games aren’t two or three years anymore… they’re four , five and six years old. There are higher expectations. The level of loyalty we are able to offer only increases. Games continue to grow more ambitious as an art form.
The same goes for annualized franchises like “Call of Duty” and “Assassin’s Creed”, where work involves a cycle of multiple studios swapping development tasks – so each studio actually has around 3-4 years to devote to each title. .
It can also be seen in “Starfield,” the next Xbox title, which will be Bethesda Game Studios’ first title since “Fallout 4” in 2015.
Bethesda has confirmed that they are planning a sixth “The Elder Scrolls” in 2018. However, with their focus on “Starfield” in recent years, we may not see the title release for a few more years.
Source: VGC