Nintendo has said that it will limit the amount of time spent developing some game projects as one solution to the increasing risks of game production, as it enters its Switch 2 era.
Growing development budgets driven by ever-larger projects and higher-fidelity games, as well as the increased cost of products to consumers, have meant that the “high-risk business” of making games was only becoming riskier, Nintendo boss Shuntaro Furukawaka recently told investors.
In response, Furukawaka said Nintendo was attempting to develop some game software on shorter timelines as a potential method of addressing this.
As part of a newly-translated Nintendo investor Q&A, the company’s president acknowledged that projects which required more time and resources were increasing game development budgets. And while offsetting these higher costs with a higher price to consumers was one solution, this could also limit the number of people willing and able to pay for them.
“Recent game software development has become larger in scale and longer in duration, resulting in higher development costs,” Furukawa acknowledged. “The game business has always been a high-risk business, and we recognize that rising development costs are increasing that risk.”
Nintendo Switch 2 launched alongside the company’s first ever $80 game, Mario Kart World, a generation after the company began pricing some of its bigger budget titles — such as The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom — at $70.
In response, Nintendo previously said that the value proposition of Mario Kart World justified its pricetag, and was not a new benchmark for all of its titles. Instead, Nintendo said the company would offer variable pricing — as seen with the $10 mini-game collection Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour, and the upcoming blockbuster Donkey Kong Bananza, which is $70.
Still, Furukawa has now said that Nintendo is investigating ways to continue providing its usual standard of “novelty” that fans have come to expect, with the need to ensure its game budgets don’t spiral out of control, and game prices remain affordable to as many players as possible.
“Our development teams are devising various ways to maintain our traditional approach to creating games amidst the increasing scale and length of development,” Furukawa continued. “We believe it is important to make the necessary investments for more efficient development.”
It’s here that the idea of creating games with faster development cycles comes in — the suggestion that Nintendo can be more economical by potentially limiting a project’s scope or scale while still providing a satisfying experience.
“We also believe it is possible to develop game software with shorter development periods that still offer consumers a sense of novelty,” Furukawa concluded, without providing an example of this. “We see this as one potential solution to the concern about rising development costs and software prices, and we will explore it from various angles within the company.”
Nintendo previously received criticism from fans pricing Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Edition at $10, rather than offering it as a free Wii Sports-style pack-in. The company has also charged a $10 fee for its upgrades to both The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom, and will require Super Mario Party Jamboree owners pay $20 to upgrade to the game’s Switch 2 version with new modes.
Tom Phillips is IGN’s News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social
