3DS and NGP game budgets are “two-to-three times” that of previous handhelds

By Stephany Nunneley

Developers Griptonite Games and Rebellion have said it takes more time and effort as well as a larger budget to create games for 3DS and NGP.

Speaking in a feature with Develop, the devs state that the cost of quality work has soared for the new devices, and in some cases tripled, with one studio declaring budgets for the devices are “two-to-three times what typical DS games have seen in the past”.

“If you wanted to spend console money on developing a PSP2 or 3DS title, every penny of it would show, and clearly some of the launch titles have budgets two-to-three times what typical DS games have seen in the past,” said JC Connors of Foundation 9’s subsidiary, Griptonite Games. “It simply takes more time and effort to design towards all the devices’ advanced features”.

Co-founder of Rebellion, Chris Kingsley, said the biggest challenge developers will face with the new handhelds will be the “budgets.”

“With more powerful machines to develop on, expectations are higher and you have to spend more time and money creating larger and more detailed worlds,” he said “With more power comes greater expectation.”

Rebellion has re-engineered its mobile engine Asura for both handhelds, while Foundation 9’s projects for PSP2 and 3DS have been in the works for quite some time.

3DS is out towards the end of the month, while it is speculated that NGP will be released by the end of the year.