TheBROgamer
Banned
Pre-PS4/Xbox One consoles it was common to get ENTIRE trilogies in a 5 - 7 year console generation span.
Here are a few examples of game dev cycles of the prior gens
GTA 3 (2001) -> GTA Vice City (2002) - GTA San Andreas (2004) -> GTA IV (2008)
Splinter Cell (2002) -> Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow 2004) -> Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory (2005)
Burnout 2 (2002) -> Burnout 3 (2004) -> Burnout Revenge (2005)
Need For Speed Underground (2003) -> Underground 2 (2004) -> Most Wanted (2005)
Mass Effect 1 - 3 (2007 - 2012)
Dead Space 1 - 3 (2008 - 2013)
Gears of War 1 - 3 (2006 - 2011)
Metroid Prime 1 - 3 (2002 - 2007)
Halo 1 to Halo 2 (2.5 years)
Halo 2 to Halo 3 (3 years)
Zelda Wind Waker to Zelda Twilight Princess (4 years with a bunch of GBA/DS games in between)
Devil May Cry 1 (2001) -> Devil May Cry 2 (2003) -> Devil May Cry 3 (2005)
Keep in mind the successors to a lot of the following games brought forth new mechanics, that led to the matured state of game design today.
Here a few examples of modern game development cycle lengths.
GTA V Sequel (Approaching 10 years+)
Halo Infinite (6 years of development, and missing content Halo 1 - Reach had)
Red Dead 2 (8 years of development)
Horizon Forbidden West (6 years of development)
Cyberpunk 2077 (announced in May 2012, released in 2020)
New Elder of Scrolls (Approaching 12 years+)
New Fallout 5 (approaching 8 years+)
God of War (2018) to God of War Ragnarok (2022, with plenty of reuse)
Zelda BOTW to Zelda TOTK (6 years, with a lot of asset reuse)
The picture below is a timeline of Rockstar Games release schedule, this is just one example but it represents the actual state of the modern development cycle length.
As games continue to require more resources this length will continue to increase, we're already seeing the effects.
As game development cycles increase things get more challenging in terms of meeting the expectations of something such as E3, where people are expected to be "wowed" on an annual basis.
Sony knew this, and was exactly why they pulled out from E3 showings.
Final Verdict: Yes
Here are a few examples of game dev cycles of the prior gens
GTA 3 (2001) -> GTA Vice City (2002) - GTA San Andreas (2004) -> GTA IV (2008)
Splinter Cell (2002) -> Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow 2004) -> Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory (2005)
Burnout 2 (2002) -> Burnout 3 (2004) -> Burnout Revenge (2005)
Need For Speed Underground (2003) -> Underground 2 (2004) -> Most Wanted (2005)
Mass Effect 1 - 3 (2007 - 2012)
Dead Space 1 - 3 (2008 - 2013)
Gears of War 1 - 3 (2006 - 2011)
Metroid Prime 1 - 3 (2002 - 2007)
Halo 1 to Halo 2 (2.5 years)
Halo 2 to Halo 3 (3 years)
Zelda Wind Waker to Zelda Twilight Princess (4 years with a bunch of GBA/DS games in between)
Devil May Cry 1 (2001) -> Devil May Cry 2 (2003) -> Devil May Cry 3 (2005)
Keep in mind the successors to a lot of the following games brought forth new mechanics, that led to the matured state of game design today.
Here a few examples of modern game development cycle lengths.
GTA V Sequel (Approaching 10 years+)
Halo Infinite (6 years of development, and missing content Halo 1 - Reach had)
Red Dead 2 (8 years of development)
Horizon Forbidden West (6 years of development)
Cyberpunk 2077 (announced in May 2012, released in 2020)
New Elder of Scrolls (Approaching 12 years+)
New Fallout 5 (approaching 8 years+)
God of War (2018) to God of War Ragnarok (2022, with plenty of reuse)
Zelda BOTW to Zelda TOTK (6 years, with a lot of asset reuse)
The picture below is a timeline of Rockstar Games release schedule, this is just one example but it represents the actual state of the modern development cycle length.
As games continue to require more resources this length will continue to increase, we're already seeing the effects.
As game development cycles increase things get more challenging in terms of meeting the expectations of something such as E3, where people are expected to be "wowed" on an annual basis.
Sony knew this, and was exactly why they pulled out from E3 showings.
Final Verdict: Yes
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