Nintendo is dealing with the higher costs of game development, according to Shigeru Miyamoto

As video games have been getting bigger and bigger, the overall cost of their development has also been increasing as well. This is something that has been affecting almost every big gaming company, and Nintendo is obviously no exception.

In a recent Investors Q&A, several key figures at the company discussed different topics regarding the current state of the gaming industry and the future of the company. The second question was all about the rising costs of game development, which Shigeru Miyamoto, one of the most important developers and designers in video game history, answered. “Our research and development expenses have been increasing each year. Since our scale of development has grown, a corresponding increase in costs is, in some respects, inevitable,” he said.

Miyamoto quite obviously has a point because, as different as Nintendo is from its competition, the company still put out numerous expansive, high-budget video games in the last few years. When you take a look at recent titles, like The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild or Super Mario Odyssey, they are obviously way more ambitious than their predecessors from previous console generations, like The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword or Super Mario 3D World.

Nintendo is confident in what it’s creating

But Shigeru Miyamoto followed up this statement with, “Our belief is that what we create is more important than the amount spent on development. We continue refining our products until we are confident that we have created something that our consumers will be satisfied with. With that in mind, what is important is to find ideas that are worth honing, and this has not changed since the era of the NES.”, meaning that the company is ultimately confident of what games it’s currently creating.

This is a philosophy that Nintendo has been following since the 80s: the Big N tends to go in its own unique direction, ignoring current trends, giving creatives the freedom to create what they want, and focusing on making fun experiences instead of obsessing over graphics or huge open worlds. Of course, this philosophy can fail (and has failed) but the monumental success of the Nintendo Switch has definitely proven that Nintendo is doing things right by prioritizing innovative ideas. “In the entertainment business, it is possible to create appealing products based on intriguing ideas, without incurring significant costs”, clarified Miyamoto.

Smaller video games are also very important for the company

On another important note, Miyamoto also said, “We believe that not all products require large costs. Even in the case of video games, with the current technology it is possible to create fun games with a small number of developers in a short period of time.” He is 100% correct about this sentiment because Nintendo has excelled at making smaller games that still are a lot of fun and resonate with its player base. For every game like Zelda: Tears of Kingdom, there’s another like Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom. For every Super Mario Odyssey, there’s a Super Mario Bros. Wonder, and so on and so forth.

Nintendo’s Senior Managing Executive Officer and Corporate Director, Shinya Takahashi, agreed with Miyamoto and added “I believe unique titles that are small in scale, but worth polishing can be created by expanding on the ideas of a small number of developers, rather than spending large sums of money on every game.” Lastly, Ko Shiota, Senior Executive Officer and Corporate Director at Nintendo, talked about the importance of providing developers with an environment that allows them to work efficiently.

“I believe that the most important thing for Nintendo is how we create new ideas. Bigger budgets do not necessarily equate to better ideas, so we hope to continue to focus on a process where teams of hardware and software developers share ideas to create interesting things” concluded Shiota, with a shocking statement that perfectly describes Nintendo’s efficient design philosophy. If these higher-ups remain true to their word, the company is going to continue thriving after the upcoming release of the Nintendo Switch’s successor.