Game companies are raising their standards for investing in new titles. Cases are continuing in which games developed for years or disclosed externally have development halted if business prospects fall short of expectations. Even formally released games are seeing further development stopped if they fail to secure users and profitability.

Nexon Games' Durango World, whose development was recently halted, and Riot Games' 2XKO, for which new development was decided to end, are at different stages but share a common point. Despite already investing a significant amount of time and money, they re-examined future costs and expected outcomes and stopped additional investment.

Projects have been halted during development in the past, and poorly performing games have ended service. Recently, though, a notable trend has emerged of continually assessing, not only during development but also after launch, whether it is worth continuing to commit staff and capital to a project.

◆The cost of taking a game to the finish has risen

The most direct backdrop is rising production and operating costs.

Many recent big new titles target multiple platforms such as PC, console and mobile, as well as global markets at the same time. As user expectations for graphics and content quality have risen, development headcount and timelines have also increased. Added to that are localisation, marketing and server build-out costs, which have expanded the investment needed to reach launch.

Live-service games also face continued cost burdens after launch. Money and staff are continually required for server operations, customer support, new content production, balance adjustments and marketing. If a certain level of users is not secured, revenue falls short of expectations while operating costs continue to accrue.

Riot Games' 2XKO is a representative case. The game began early access in October last year and entered full service in January this year, but Riot decided last month to end new development at the end of this year.

Riot explained that the game was well received by core fighting-game users but failed to broaden its user base sufficiently, and that even adding new content did not meaningfully improve its performance. In the end, it judged that the costs of developing and operating the game had become greater than its revenue.

Pre-launch projects are not an exception. Nexon Games halted development this month on Durango World, which inherited the intellectual property of Durango: Wild Lands. It was a key upcoming title developed over a long period, but the project ultimately did not reach the launch stage.

◆From 'how much we spent' to 'is it worth investing more'

The way game companies view projects is also changing.

Rather than completing a title once development has begun no matter what, they are re-evaluating quality, marketability and the scale of additional investment at each stage and shifting resources to other projects if standards are not met.

Nexon has publicly emphasised this direction this year. At a capital markets briefing in March, Nexon Chairman Patrick Soderlund (패트릭 쇠더룬드) assessed that the company's portfolio of supported titles had become excessively broad and set out a policy to concentrate resources on projects with higher profitability and the potential for global success.

After that, Nexon streamlined some new-title projects while continuing additional investment in some projects such as Nakwon: Last Paradise and Woochi the Wayfarer.

Similar moves have appeared at NC as well. It has reshaped its portfolio by halting some development projects and moving related staff to other new titles or live-game teams. Rather than viewing halted development solely as the end of a project, it is a way to reuse development staff and budgets for other titles.

Companies' decision criteria are also shifting from 'how much has been spent so far' to 'is it worth investing more going forward'. That means even projects developed for years can be halted if they are judged to have low chances of success relative to additional costs.

Conversely, projects judged to have market potential receive additional staff and budgets. It has become more important to decide where to concentrate resources across the overall portfolio of new titles than to complete each individual project to the end.

◆Knowing when to stop is also important, not just finishing

The process of judging whether a project survives is continuing from the development stage through after launch. During development, companies decide based on quality and marketability, and after launch they determine whether to invest further based on user numbers and sales.

If post-launch user numbers and profitability fall short of expectations, companies reassess whether to keep adding content, reduce the scale of development or end new development. Launch itself is not the endpoint of investment decisions.

In the end, a game company's competitiveness is coming to include not only the ability to create hit titles but also the ability to decide when to wrap up projects with declining prospects and where to reinvest secured resources.

An industry official said, "Recently, the atmosphere is to look more coldly at future costs and marketability than at costs already incurred," adding, "It is also becoming more important to decide to quickly整理 projects with low potential and投入 staff and budgets into other titles."