The upcoming Shadow of the Tomb Raider is proving very expensive for Square Enix, so it’s no wonder the company is looking to experiment with cheaper, less risky projects. Eidos Montreal, the lead developer on Shadow of the Tomb Raider, has revealed that the game has cost between $75 to $100 million to develop, with around $35 million reserved for marketing and promotion. This is quite a lot of money for a predominantly single-player, story-driven game. This makes it harder to monetise post-launch, which is why we’re seeing publishers move away from the one-and-done business of selling games and into the games-as-a-service model, which naturally involves more social, multiplayer games. Studio head David Anfossi admits that this creates pressure for Eidos Montreal to turn a profit, which is why the studio has dedicated money and resources to experimenting with different game modes, and game concepts that can both satisfy fans of narrative-based games, and make enough money to be sustainable. “We need to try new things, experience stuff and learn,” Anfossi told Games Industry. “We are doing tests, we are learning, and we are working out how to apply that to our games, but we have to be careful about the fans. Online does not have to mean multiplayer. It could, but it could also be something different. It can be a single-player experience but online.” “Online, for me, does not mean we forget the single-player experience. It could be part of that experience. Or it might mean we try… [Read full story]
Leave a Reply