In the face of rising development costs, Nintendo decided to shorten the project cycle and explore the “short and flat” game

With the dawn of the Switch 2nd era, the director of heavenship, Juntaro Kogawa, had recently told investors at an internal meeting that game development was becoming a “high-risk business” and that the risks were still increasing. In order to meet this challenge, Nintendo plans to shorten the development time for some of its games.

During the investor-oriented question-and-answer session, Juntaro Kogawa stated: “The increasing scale and duration of the recent development of game software has directly led to an increase in the cost of game development. The game business has always been a high-risk industry, and we recognize that rising development costs are exacerbating this risk.”

Kogawa Juntaro stated that it was a solution to shift the rising cost to consumers by raising the price of the game. Switch 2’s first escort, Marrios: The World, priced $80, making it the most expensive game in heaven’s history.

However, Guchon is also acutely aware that higher prices may limit the number of players willing and able to buy, and that in the long run they will be repulsed. Nintendo had previously stressed that the high pricing of ” Mario Racer: The World ” was based on the value proposition it provided, not all the game pricing benchmarks. The company has adopted a differential pricing strategy: for example, a 10-dollar game collection, Switch 2 Welcome Tour; and a forthcoming book, Tung Chigang: All Power, at $70.

“Dodge Kong: Full power.”

The central challenge facing Nintaro in Guchon is:How to continue to provide the “new sense of creativity” that players expect, with the constant level of Nintendo, while ensuring that the game budget is not out of control and that the prices remain affordable for as many players as possible.

To this end, Nintendo ‘ s development team is working on ways to maintain its traditional game creation concept in the context of the growing scale and cycle of development. In particular, Kogawa Juntaro highlighted the necessary investment in development efficiency.

Among them, shortening the game development cycle was explicitly proposed as a potential solution.To develop the game in a more economical manner by potentially limiting the scope and size of the project. The goal is to achieve faster development while providing a satisfactory experience.

In conclusion, Juntaro Kogawa said: “We also believe that the development of shorter-cycle software still has the potential to provide consumers with a fresher sense. We think that this is a potential solution that worries about the cost of development and the rise in the price of software, and we will explore it from a number of angles within the company.” But Kookawa did not give a specific case.

Juntaro Kukawa, President of Heaven

It is worth noting that Nintendo’s recent collection strategy has provoked some controversy among the players and that the 10-dollar game collection of Switch 2 Welcome Tours has been criticized for failing to follow the Wii Sport model as a host-free side game.

Nintendo charged $10 to upgrade the Switch 2 editions of The Legend of Zelda: The Passage and The Tears of the Kingdom. More strikingly, the Switch player who owns Super Mario’s Party: Carnival would have to pay $20 if he wanted to upgrade to the Switch 2 version, which contains a new model.

“The Tears of the Kingdom.”

Nintendo ‘ s response has shown caution and pragmatism in the face of an inescapable rise in development costs for the whole industry. On the one hand, through differential pricing, attempts are made to find a balance between income and player acceptance; on the other hand, there is an active internal search for efficiency gains and for the possibility of producing “nature” games at manageable cost and time.

However, the success of a “short and flat” model that shortens the development cycle will be a key test for the Switch 2-era paradise to apply to its landmark high-quality games and to meet the high expectations of players. Changes in its fee patterns will also continuously test the loyalty of players.