Capcom recently divulged that they expect a 1.5 year development cycle when producing sequels to major franchises. The company initially wanted a 2.5 year development cycle for their sequels, but in these changing times they feel 1.5 years is more adequate. Capcom also mentioned that they have around 30 key developers.
We have about 30 key developers and are able to deploy the required personnel at the required times as needed. This allows us to develop content with a small number of people while operating a number of lines at once. Ideally, we want to use a development period of 1.5 years as a rule for each team. Our goal is to make the development cycle even shorter.
If you want good games, you let them take as long as they need.
ff15 started development as another game in 2007 technically so that’s not a good rule to go by unless ff15 turns out to be the best rpg of all time
Another example would be Majora’s Mask. The team only had one year to make something and it became one of the best games ever made.
I’ve been playing the Gamecube version of Majora’s Mask (on the Zelda Collector’s Edition). And for some reason, the game froze 3 or 4 times so far while playing (twice in the Great Bay). I don’t know if this was a known problem with this port, or if something else is causing it? The game feels so buggy. Like, there’s a lot of moments when the sound acts up and makes me fear that it’s going to freeze again. The N64 version sure never did this.
MM never froze for me. Played every version of it. Sorry about your luck. :/
Majoras mask is not a good example. Yes it only took one year, but a HUGE amount of the work put in the game was just copy pasted from OoT. If they had to make all new polygons and mechanics that people usually do when making games, it would probably take 2 years. But almost all of that type of work was already put in place from day 1, MM is a cheaply made game. Its very good of course, I love it, but its not a good example to this argument.
^^This. I was thinking something similar to this when I read his post, but I couldn’t put it into words so I didn’t bother.
some of the worst games of all time were rushed too. like et and sonic 06
kirby return to dreamland had a development cycle of 12 years…. amazing game
Actually what they mean is, if the art team only needs to work on a project for a few months, then they can move to a new project, as well as the other departments.
Capcom needs to BRING BACK MOTHERFUCKING MEGAMAN LEGENDS 3
1.5 years?
Really? That is the same development time that most Battlefield and Call of Duty games have and look how well they turn out….
Not true at all. COD had 2-year development cycles but have switched to 3-year cycles. EA said that Battlefield is “similarly aligned” to Activision’s 3-year cycle.
Well, 2 years between releases, but development cycles are usually a bit less. They give games enough time to get review copies out and take care of licensing and other legal issues to release the games, so they really finish a few months early, at least in the west (that’s possibly why Hyrule Warriors is taking an extra month and a half to get brought over from Japan). My only question is, do they include debugging in that? Also, they probably will still be released in 2 year windows, with the extra months up to launch being used to make DLC for the games and make their special pre-order/system exclusive bonuses :/
No, more than two yesrd. More like 27 months.
Yes it has always spent 1.5 years to make COD games and the ONLY reason it jumped to 2.5, not 3, 2.5 years of development time is because they hired another studio to make another COD game, doing the complete opposite of what the fanbase is telling Activision to do. Instead of giving the series a break, they brought in another bitch to spam COD to give the other two studios an excuse to have extended time failing to realize that the fans are beyond sick of seeing the game every year.
Smash Bros has had a 1.5 year development time and it looks phenomenal.
SSB4? Didn’t it start once Kid Icarus: Uprising finished? That would give it about 2.5 years.
The summer after, so it’ll be more like 2.2 years. It probably started summer 2012 and will be done around September for the 3DS version and October for the Wii U (giving an extra month for licensing and ratings and whatever other legal stuff they need to get it through before putting it on the shelves) so 2 years and 3 or 4ish months, a bit less than 2.5 :P
They should take their time so we can get great quality Capcom games again :) I hope they don’t rush the new Resident evil games, i love that franchise alot.
Look at the Crash Bandicoot games, best ps1 franchise ever and each game was released a year after.
Crash Bandicoot is really not the best ps1 franchise…. It’s not even really good…
Yes…this will be good once Nintendo acquires them :)
There’s nothing wrong with fast development times if they have a large enough team to make it happen efficiently. If there were only 50 employees working on a project I would tell them to slow down, take their time, but if they have 5x as many employees than this time frame is reasonable.
Well, it depends a bit on the type of game, but considering how many of their games are for mobile, if this is the average with mobile on the shorter end and console on the other, that shouldn’t be too bad. Also if they license out engines and stuff, could take a bit of time off of their cycles. And some smaller download only games like Ubisoft is doing with the indie-esk titles
and 1.5 years to cancel a Megaman game…. I just really want Nintendo to buy them, or anyone, as long as it’s not EA…
Japanese laws apparently prohibit other countries from being able to purchase them. Anyhow, they aren’t really for sale, they just aren’t protected from having majority stock bought out from them. So someone could technically “buy” them, but they aren’t going to other companies looking for offers like THQ had to before they went under. And really, it would make more sense to just buy up their properties and maybe a few dev teams after they go under. Cause you buy out a company you have to deal with all of it, as an entire company being taken over, but if you let them die and then pick up the pieces, you can be a lot more selective in what you get, take the good leave the bad, so to speak
That is a very well made comment…and one of the smartest I’ve herd all day long.
Plus one point Mr. deleted.
As long its not Microsoft (look at Rare) or EA/Activision (hell fucking no), Capcom IPs are safe.
At first I thought it said “1.5 year development cycle for major REMAKES.” That seemed really good, haha.
I don’t know if 1.5 years is enough for a full-fledged sequel. Maybe if they have enough staff.
I just hope Resident Evil 7 turns out awesome. Back to actual survival horror but with some new things. And keep the third person aiming. I don’t mind fixed camera angles though. Hugs!
Whether it will be good or bad, it’s already ruined…
Just reboot the damn thing already…
No. Give Wii U the RE4 HD edition with online for Mercenaries mode and then we’ll be set for good old RE fun. :3
RE4HD has no differences at all…
I don’t want another remake with no changes…
I have to agree with this. I’m perfectly fine with Resident Evil 4 Wii Edition. Now if Capcom releases an anthology of Resident Evil that features 0, 1, 2, 3, Code Veronica, & 4, then I’d say hell yes.
If they do, I hope they tie up the loose ends that Resident Evil Revelations created first. And any that Resident Evil 6 might have created. Or better yet, maybe Resident Evil Revelations could lead into a game that ignores the events of Resident Evil 5 & 6 & pretends it never happened. Then they can bring Wesker back.
I’m not holding my breath for RE. I’m a HUGE RE fan, but they have been destroying the franchise. ;.;
Revelations kicked ass.
More or less, RE is damaged forever with slim chance for redemption.
Awful idea – this is just like the horrendous Western publishers.
My goal is for Nintendo to buy Capcom.
Your goal? So how are you going to accomplish that?
He works for the company.
…ok, so you gonna bring back mega man?
For those of you who wish to watch, Nintendo Challenge at SDCC is live right now. Still hoping for the Smash announcement. :)
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_V1L3Br2GYk
Never mind this is the full stream from yesterday. My bad. X(