The other tricky thing seems to me how to keep development costs low, since costs are so high and players don't want to pay much. A good example of a budgetary success is BDO. It should be expected other companies will follow their example--whatever it may be. I think they cut the costs down to $1,000,000. It's probably more than that, truth be told, but that's an insane number for an MMORPG. It's true there're whales, but when you zoom out, the reality is we get far more for our buck now, esp with the f2p trend. Developers are increasingly struggling to pay these costs. Growing numbers of players are playing old games, cracked or emulated games, free or open source games. And I haven't even brought up the topic of AI creating games for us to play.
I don't know which one to love more. Maybe I can love both.
I don't think you can compare cost between different country. There is a reason why asia is the factory of the planet because you find better quality workers with cheaper price there.
Probably one of the reason witcher 3 is so successful is because of the workers there. You get more qualified worker for cheaper price compare to other European country.
Btw, I was incorrect about BDO's budget being 1 million. That's often reported as the cost of the development with their inhouse engine, but it's far too low to be reasonable by conventional wisdom. I managed to track down another figure here, from the "chairperson of Pearl Absyss":
In fact, the development cost for BDO
wasn’t that high. We had as many skilled personnel as we could get, and I
personally put much dedication into it. It was around 11 million
dollars. We modified the whole process in order to save some costs. The
process was completely different from that of R2 or C9. We discussed
many times internally, and we had to make an instant decision from time
to time.
US dollars. That translates to somethuing like 13 billion in local Korean currency. I don't know why two different figures are given. It could be hte original $1 million figure (1.2b KR) only includes hte cost of the engine.
And I sort of agree, maybe. There's something "younger" and more ignorant about Saga of Lucimia, and something in the back of my mind says to me they have more passion. Sometimes experience can backfire, but who knows. Young inexperienced game developers are notorious for being overambitious. It seems in most trade hte vast numbers of people are mediocre or fail to ever be well known. On the other hand, it does seem to me some of hte biggest games (and movies) in history came from people who lacked experience and struggled to produce them, and frequently during production it seemed all hope was lost. One example? Jaws. That was one of the movies which catapulted Spielberg into fame. I might even give Star Wars as an example. They NEVER expected the amazing reception it received, and fought tooth and nail. In those days, George Lucas didn't have the experience he had later. Something they did have was youth and enthusiasm, something powerful and easy to underestimate.
What I do know is this. For a while now I've promised myself to be there at Pantheon's launch. I didn't work for a long time, so thought it might not happen. But guess what? Last year I started working and I'm still working. I have a new computer. I will be ready, barring a catastrophe or some major event in my life
Unfortunately by the time Pantheon or SoL finally comes out you'll probably have to buy another new computer.
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
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Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
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Comments
Probably one of the reason witcher 3 is so successful is because of the workers there. You get more qualified worker for cheaper price compare to other European country.
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Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
Project Gorgon
They did it, so can SoLProject Gorgon is shaping up to be a full fledged mmorpg
I personally don't like their off putting design, Like turning into a cow.
However that's besides the point.... It's turning into a world and a game that's playable.
If done right, this "part time job" they have could turn into a full size company