Have Game Development Costs Peaked?

When StarCraft II saw its release late last month, it might have became the most expensive game ever produced – costing over $100 million from start to finish. That’s on par with some of Hollywood’s biggest blockbusters, and StarCraft II sure isn’t alone in this category. Grand Theft Auto IV also cost about $100 million to develop. The question is then raised… how much further are we going to see this go?

If one Electronic Arts executive is to be believed, the answer is “not much”. David DeMartini, the VP and Group General Manager of EA Partners, stated that development costs have peaked, and rather than stay where they are, they’re likely to begin going in the opposite direction. Why? Well, it seems that EA in particular is seeing more value in “social” games, and those don’t cost near as much to make in comparison.

This idea complements a news post we made last week, where we stated the obvious… that a game doesn’t have to be super expensive to develop or ultra complex to the gamer in order to be good. There are many, many games developed by only a small team or even a single person that end up being incredibly fun.

Are we going to suddenly see a decline of “blockbuster” games? It’s hard to say, but I sure hope not. Games like GTA IV and StarCraft II might have cost an insane amount of cash to develop, but given that both of these particular titles have sold in droves, it seems fair to believe that the investment was more than worth it. As a whole, though, we’re likely to see a general decline, but big-budget titles are surely here to stay for quite some time.

“I think budgets for games have actually peaked and are starting to move in the reverse direction again,” said David DeMartini in an interview with GamesIndustry.biz [registration required]. He’s VP and group general manager of EA Partners, the publisher’s third-party distribution arm. At EA, lower-cost social games have become more important, as exemplified with the publisher’s 2009 acquisition of Pet Society social game maker Playfish for up to $400 million (including earnouts).