Xbox Game Studios' head says we need to get used to games taking longer to make.
Last week at the blockbuster Xbox Games Showcase, Xbox debuted new trailers for the likes of Fable 4 and Avowed, projects that have been in development for multiple years, and going years without showing anything new to eager fans. Now, a key Xbox executive says fans need to get used to games taking longer to make.
"I think that the industry and the fans were a little behind the curve on sort of a reset to understand that games aren't two or three years anymore," Xbox Game Studios head Matt Booty told Axios. Booty's comment specifically refers to the higher-end, bigger budget games Xbox publishes, like the Fable, Halo, and Gears of War series'.
The executive went on to add that development time for higher-end games is more like "four and five and six years" now, chiefly because "there are higher expectations." Booty added that "the level of fidelity that we're able to deliver just goes up," and as such, games take longer to make.
Booty also puts the extended development time down to games getting "more ambitious as an art form."
2023 has seen the release of games like The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, which has been in development for right around six years. Next week will see Final Fantasy 16 launch after a similar six years of development, and no, these games aren't published by Xbox, but they're proof of Booty's estimation of higher-end games taking five or six years to make.
Games are getting more expensive to make, and they're taking longer to make, and Booty's comments are proof of this. It's actually quite rare to see an executive be relatively candid about fans needing to wait longer to see more of their favorite in-development games, and Booty's comments at least try to paint an honest picture for fans about the true cost of games looking better and getting bigger.
Head over to our upcoming Xbox Series X games guide for a look ahead at all the other exclusives coming to the new-gen console.
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