Vekta City ain't free

With studios folding by the dozen due to the weight of increasing development budgets, many analysts have questioned how teams will survive the transition to the impending next generation. However, chatting with Gamasutra immediately after last night’s Killzone: Shadow Fall reveal, Guerrilla Games’ managing director Herman Hulst has indicated that the costs aren’t as great as you might think.

“I can very simply share with you that when we did Killzone 2 and Killzone 3, we probably maxed out with a team size of 125,” he said. “We have 150 now, so it's marginally bigger. This is about a two-and-a-half year development cycle, which is roughly similar. It includes a hardware transition, so that explains potentially the six months of extra time."

Hulst added that the developer has invested heavily into its tools, allowing it to “develop smart”. The studio also learned greatly from its time spent working on the PlayStation 3. “It's not as scary as maybe some people have led you to believe,” he continued. “There's more art outsourcing, but that's not necessarily very expensive.”

It’s nice to know that the industry isn’t on the cusp of financial ruin, isn’t it?

[source gamasutra.com]