Der er en konstant stigende forventninger fra forbrugerne omkring store spils kompleksitet og tekniske niveau, og dette har, løbende, forøget mængden af tid det kræver at få et projekt klargjort. Det estimeres eksempelvis at det i hvert fald tager seks år at udvikle et stort spil.
Og denne tendens vil fortsætte, sådan lyder det i hvert fald fra Nintendo-præsident Shuntaro Furukawa, der under en nylig Q&A siger dette:
"In order to enhance the value of our IP from a long-term perspective and continue to offer unique entertainment, we will continue to aggressively secure the necessary development resources. While there are other means of expanding development resources, such as M&A, we would like to first develop personnel who understand the Nintendo brand well within the company and who, together with the developers who have built our brand over the years, will be responsible for Nintendo's future development. In the future, game development will inevitably become longer, more complex, and more sophisticated. In this environment, our lifeline is to offer new and unique proposals to our customers through game development, so we will aggressively expand our development resources, including investments."
Det er potentielt dårlige nyheder for udviklere, der ofte føler at udviklingsperioderne er for lange, budgetterne er for store og de økonomiske forventninger så bliver urealistiske.
