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[IbizaPocholo]

Nintendo president: “Game development will become even longer, more complex, and more sophisticated”

Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa has explained to Japanese magazine Famitsu that video game development will become even longer, more complex, and more sophisticated in the future and that mergers…

mynintendonews.com

Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa has explained to Japanese magazine Famitsu that video game development will become even longer, more complex, and more sophisticated in the future and that mergers and acquisitions could be one way to address this. Nintendo isn’t the only company to say that video game development is becoming longer, more costly, and more complex, with both Sony and Xbox echoing this statement in the past.

“He also stated that he believes that further lengthening, complexity, and sophistication of game development is inevitable in the future, and that M&A is one possible means to address this, but added, “First of all, we would like to develop human resources who understand Nintendo’s brand well within the company and who will be responsible for Nintendo’s future development, along with developers who have built our brand over the years. However, the company’s basic policy is to “first of all, understand the Nintendo brand well within the company, and develop human resources who will be responsible for the future development of Nintendo, together with developers who have built the brand over the years.”

 

[Exede]

I think you should reread the text and do some fixes at the end of it.

 

[Jinzo Prime]

Some things I think Nintendo should do in the near future:

• Expand the team at Next Level Games, they turned Luigi's Mansion into a multimillion selling franchise and their animation department is movie level already.
• Get a Korean dev team up and running (or just buy one); Lies of P and Stellar Blade prove they are viable AA+ developers.
• Make more Pokemon spin-off games with a focus on quality. I honestly believe Pokemon is underutilized as a brand outside the mediocre mainline games.
• Buy Level 5.
• LET MONOLITH SOFT COOK LEAVE THEM ALONE

 

[midnightAI]

Nintendo president: “Game development will become even longer, more complex, and more sophisticated”

Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa has explained to Japanese magazine Famitsu that video game development will become even longer, more complex, and more sophisticated in the future and that mergers…

mynintendonews.com

Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa has explained to Japanese magazine Famitsu that video game development will become even longer, more complex, and more sophisticated in the future and that mergers and acquisitions could be one way to address this. Nintendo isn’t the only company to say that video game development is becoming longer, more costly, and more complex, with both Sony and Xbox echoing this statement in the past.

“He also stated that he believes that further lengthening, complexity, and sophistication of game development is inevitable in the future, and that M&A is one possible means to address this, but added, “First of all, we would like to develop human resources who understand Nintendo’s brand well within the company and who will be responsible for Nintendo’s future development, along with developers who have built our brand over the years. However, the company’s basic policy is to “first of all, understand the Nintendo brand well within the company, and develop human resources who will be responsible for the future development of Nintendo, together with developers who have built the brand over the years.”

Nintendo are just catching up to the rest of the world who develop for more powerful consoles/PCs

 

[Robb]

Feels like Nintendo has positioned themselves very well compared to the competition when it comes to this problem by being able to sell less powerful hardware and, in turn, produce cheaper games.

And when/if someone who has bigger problems finds a good solution to minimize costs of high budget titles they’ll likely be able to just swoop in and use that same (or a similar) solution as well.

 

[vaibhavpisal]

Am playing Metroid Dread right now.

It feels a bit more complex and lengthy than it needs to be.

One of the reason why Super Metroid is still the GOAT.

Hopefully Nintendo will understand this as well.

 

[NotMyProblemAnymoreCunt]

Some things I think Nintendo should do in the near future:

• Expand the team at Next Level Games, they turned Luigi's Mansion into a multimillion selling franchise and their animation department is movie level already.
• Get a Korean dev team up and running (or just buy one); Lies of P and Stellar Blade prove they are viable AA+ developers.
• Make more Pokemon spin-off games with a focus on quality. I honestly believe Pokemon is underutilized as a brand outside the mediocre mainline games.
• Buy Level 5.
• LET MONOLITH SOFT COOK LEAVE THEM ALONE

Luigi Mansion 4
Xenoblade Chronicles 4

 

[RoadHazard]

Imagine when Nintendo has to start doing actual "modern" development. So far they've been doing PS3-level games with far less asset density etc than most PS4/PS5 games. More graphics means more work.

But I suppose they're not about to start trying to make photorealistic games anyway, so maybe this won't really be a problem for them like it has been for many other developers. Many of Nintendo's Switch games would look brilliant on a 4K TV with just some improved textures and higher rendering resolution.

 

[Fart Knight]

No shit, we had to wait 6 years for Zelda DLC

 

[NanaMiku]

Some things I think Nintendo should do in the near future:

• Make more Pokemon spin-off games with a focus on quality. I honestly believe Pokemon is underutilized as a brand outside the mediocre mainline games.

They actually do many things with Pokemon brand. But it's usually Japan only and mostly non-game

Project Snorlax was pretty big: https://www.serebii.net/projects/projectsnorlax/

Project Voltage too : https://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Pokémon_feat._Hatsune_Miku_Project_VOLTAGE_18_Types/Songs

They opened the sound library for older games to be free-use, but only for Japan:


They preparing the Pokemon TCG Lounge in Japan

 

[Kokoloko85]

Yes Nintendo. You’ve been making games that fit on 2010 hardware until now. Switch 2 will be interesting with them having to make games for modeern hardware for the first time in decades

 

[T-0800]

Better graphics don't result in better sales. Minecraft and Tetris are two of the best selling games of all time.

 

[NanaMiku]

Better graphics don't result in better sales. Minecraft and Tetris are two of the best selling games of all time.

and Roblox

 

[H-I-M]

Feels like Nintendo has positioned themselves very well compared to the competition when it comes to this problem by being able to sell less powerful hardware and, in turn, produce cheaper games.

And when/if someone who has bigger problems finds a good solution to minimize costs of high budget titles they’ll likely be able to just swoop in and use that same (or a similar) solution as well.

But with the Switch 2 being rumored to be close to the Series S, it's going to be weird to have on one side these low polygon flagship Pokemon games and on the other side graphically intense third party games.

I wonder how they'll get away with it this time.

 

[BlackTron]

Yes Nintendo. You’ve been making games that fit on 2010 hardware until now. Switch 2 will be interesting with them having to make games for modern hardware

So is this the real reason for Switch 2 delay? Unforeseen challenges of modern development like when they fumbled from Wii to Wii U and didn't realize how much they would need to update all their tools and learn new things in order to make a HD game? lol

 

[BlackTron]

But with the Switch 2 being rumored to be close to the Series S, it's going to be weird to have on one side these low polygon flagship Pokemon games and on the other side graphically intense third party games.

I wonder how they'll get away with it this time.

It already looks ridiculous putting Pokemon next to a 2017 Switch game like Mario Odyssey. Why should this be any different

 

[near]

Feels like Nintendo has positioned themselves very well compared to the competition when it comes to this problem by being able to sell less powerful hardware and, in turn, produce cheaper games.

And when/if someone who has bigger problems finds a good solution to minimize costs of high budget titles they’ll likely be able to just swoop in and use that same (or a similar) solution as well.

Not really. Furukawa is specifically saying in that interview that they face the same inevitable future as Sony and Xbox. Citing development duration and cost as hurdles, with mergers and acquisitions a possible means of mitigating those struggles.

 

[IDKFA]

Forgive my ignorance, but why isn't there technology to help speed up development? Having a studio develop just one game a generation seems unsustainable.

Surly AI could be used to help speed up development without costing jobs. It's happening in the film industry (Weta used AI to help with the new planet of the apes film, without making people redundant), so why not the game industry?

 

[Hudo]

Nintendo are just catching up to the rest of the world who develop for more powerful consoles/PCs

True. But I hope the rest of the world will catch up to Nintendo when it comes to focusing on gameplay first.

 

[Woopah]

They have done some M&A activity in recent years, but the focus of their game-specific cash investments is on the expansion of EPD, which I think is the right move

They are also expanding their number of external partners, and I think these two moves are going to help them maintain their 1 game per month cadence.

Some things I think Nintendo should do in the near future:

• Expand the team at Next Level Games, they turned Luigi's Mansion into a multimillion selling franchise and their animation department is movie level already.
• Get a Korean dev team up and running (or just buy one); Lies of P and Stellar Blade prove they are viable AA+ developers.
• Make more Pokemon spin-off games with a focus on quality. I honestly believe Pokemon is underutilized as a brand outside the mediocre mainline games.
• Buy Level 5.
• LET MONOLITH SOFT COOK LEAVE THEM ALONE

15 years ago I would have agreed with you on Level 5. But they are such a mess right now that I don't think Nintendo should go anywhere near them.

 

[Generic]

Nintendo games on PC are inevitable.

 

[near]

Nintendo games on PC are inevitable.

The land of the rising sun says no.

 

[daclynk]

Hmmm, lets see how they tackle it. i remember the problems with the Wiiu like Sony did with the PS3.

 

[BlackTron]

Nintendo games on PC are inevitable.

When you see Nintendo games on PC they will be a lapsed company with the reputation of Atari. Everything they stand for will have to be destroyed first.

 

[Hudo]

When you see Nintendo games on PC they will be a lapsed company with the reputation of Atari. Everything they stand for will have to be destroyed first.

That Atari 50th anniversary thing was pretty dope, tho. That 5200 version of Star Raiders is still cool.

 

[DenchDeckard]

If there is one company I trust, it is nintendo. They haven't failed me in over 35 years.

 

[BlackTron]

That Atari 50th anniversary thing was pretty dope, tho. That 5200 version of Star Raiders is still cool.

Exactly. Long since the end of Atari's reign, their old games worth anything are spammed on all platforms.

This is the only way you will ever see Nintendo on PC. The first step would be a bare minimum of two generations where Nintendo makes every mistake possible and erodes their position. This is just to set the stage for it to get so bad that everyone leaves the company and have new decision makers.

It's not happening.

 

[T-0800]

When you see Nintendo games on PC they will be a lapsed company with the reputation of Atari. Everything they stand for will have to be destroyed first.

Funny thing is the Atari of today is making some very sound business decisions.

 

[DonkeyPunchJr]

Microsoft has been waiting for the call for 25 years. Give them a call and tell them that Nintendo is ready to sell!

 

[BlackTron]

Funny thing is the Atari of today is making some very sound business decisions.

That's kinda my point, that this idea of N being on PC isn't completely impossible, just implausibly distant.

It's not going to happen because "our games are complex and can therefore take advantage of PC". It'll only happen in dystopia

 

[KungFucius]

I still want less complex 2Dish games. Mario, Metroid, and Zelda still lend themselves to new 2D experiences. Keep making those every once in a while and release them in the middle of mainline 3D games because those games are taking 7 years to develop.

 

[NotMyProblemAnymoreCunt]

I still want less complex 2Dish games. Mario, Metroid, and Zelda still lend themselves to new 2D experiences. Keep making those every once in a while and release them in the middle of mainline 3D games because those games are taking 7 years to develop.

I prefer 2D Zelda way more than 3D Zelda, so I'm down for whatever new 2D Zelda is coming up

 

[Darsxx82]

Now they are going to have to catch up in technology and therefore the games are going to be more expensive and complex to make. The positive side for them is that since Switch 2 has higher power capabilities, there will be many 3rd parties that will make Switch versions of games that were not previously released on their platform due to lack of power to make a port viable. .

My prediction is that First party developments will be reduced but in exchange the greater 3rd party support will compensate for the catalog..... at least until the next generation of hardware is released.

 

[Guilty_AI]

Time to make some PC releases to pay back those costs then.

 

[BlackTron]

Time to make some PC releases to pay back those costs then.

Getting hard to tell whether this is serious or satire at this point.

I read this post as making fun of Sony.

 

[Robb]

Not really. Furukawa is specifically saying in that interview that they face the same inevitable future as Sony and Xbox. Citing development duration and cost as hurdles, with mergers and acquisitions a possible means of mitigating those struggles.

Of course they will, but it’s still in the future which is my point. The competition is there now, and has been for a long time.

Surely development costs of high-end Ps5/Series X games are even higher than Ps4/XBO games, which is where Nintendo is seemingly going with “Switch 2”. If their strategy keeps working they’ll always benefit from making less expensive products, in a shorter time-span, than the competition, while still selling them at equivalent prices.

 

[IAmRei]

True. But I hope the rest of the world will catch up to Nintendo when it comes to focusing on gameplay first.

And also nintendo profit margin is higher because their focus aspect. They are generating more wealth.

 

[ReyBrujo]

Buy Level 5.

Or NIS.

 

[DaGwaphics]

They probably can't believe they are going to have to bite the bullet and go full HD. They held out as long as they could.

 

[Hudo]

And also nintendo profit margin is higher because their focus aspect. They are generating more wealth.

Didn't Nintendo have the highest amount of "on-hand cash" out of all Japanese companies at one point?

 

[Werewolf Jones]

Just make a Boomer Zelda. lmao.

 

[ahtlas7]

Everything at Nintendo takes forever. How long we been waiting on that Switch successor?

 

[cireza]

Ever since the move to HD, Nintendo has been a struggling a bit with game development. Not that the quality isn't there, but it does look like they are taking a ton of time for games that are technically much less complex than what other publishers have to provide on much more powerful hardware.

Wii U was where they suffered the most. They filled the first years of Switch with many ports from the Wii U, but now they have exhausted this solution and are once again facing the same problem : how to release a good enough stream of games ?

I am expecting first party releases on the new Switch to suffer the same way as on Wii U.

 

[drotahorror]

Nintendo mad about their profits as they might have to start developing games on hardware that isn't ancient mobile tech.

 

[Wooxsvan]

No shit, we had to wait 6 years for Zelda DLC

 

[Hudo]

Or NIS.

Ngl, I'd be interested in NIS' take on a Fire Emblem game.

 

[Hypereides]

I really dislike that this sentiment about prolonged game development seems to be echoed throughout most of the AAA industry. Something went wrong along the way if they've collectively decided this is the most apt strategy.

At least we got smaller dev houses out there who diverge from that direction.

 

[Hugare]

Nintendo has finally reached with the Switch 2 what game developers have been facing since 2013

But I doubt that Nintendo will use Switch 2 power to make everything more detailed and etc. We will have stuff like TotK but running at 1440p/60.

They dont have to go for realistic graphics and etc. They will use the horse power for better IQ and framerates, I bet.

 

[IAmRei]

Didn't Nintendo have the highest amount of "on-hand cash" out of all Japanese companies at one point?

Yep, and based on few days ago, their report is nintendo have more money in switch era, than before their 80s-before switch. Its on twitter/X, havent verify it on other place. The know how to balance between: approach target vs margin income vs development cost

 

[Deerock71]

“First of all, we would like to develop human resources who understand Nintendo’s brand well within the company and who will be responsible for Nintendo’s future development, along with developers who have built our brand over the years. However, the company’s basic policy is to “first of all, understand the Nintendo brand well within the company, and develop human resources who will be responsible for the future development of Nintendo, together with developers who have built the brand over the years.”