![\"Super](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/SEI_270284414-56a2.jpg\")
\n\t\tNintendo doesn\u2019t like spending money (Nintendo)<\/p>\n
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\n\t\tNintendo doesn\u2019t like spending money (Nintendo)<\/p>\n
The Wednesday letters page is frustrated at how few first party games Sony<\/a> is producing for PS5<\/a>, as a reader catches up on his Pok\u00e9mon<\/a> backlog.<\/p>\n Games Inbox<\/a> is a collection of our readers\u2019 letters, comments, and opinions. To join in with the discussions yourself email gamecentral@metro.co.uk<\/a><\/p>\n Spend more It\u2019s strange what Nintendo does and doesn\u2019t spend money on. Why Pok\u00e9mon games are done on such a tiny budget<\/a> but something like Zelda, which sells nowhere near as much, gets so much money spent on it is a mystery. I guess it\u2019s because they were trying to elevate Zelda? And technically Nintendo don\u2019t control Pok\u00e9mon, it\u2019s Game Freak, but it seems obvious Nintendo has the controlling say in what happens.<\/p>\n On the one hand, I appreciate that they know what they\u2019re doing, and they\u2019ve lasted this long exactly because they never overextend themselves with $300 million budgets, but there\u2019s got to be a balance here. Having your most lucrative franchise look like an upscaled PlayStation 2 game is not acceptable and we shouldn\u2019t treat it as such. One and done But that\u2019s it, they spent the first year or so messing around with a director\u2019s cut of Ghost Of Tsushima for PlayStation 5 and now it\u2019s going to take them five years or more to make something else. By which point the PlayStation 6<\/a> will already be three years old. Crazy, isn\u2019t it?<\/p>\n \t\t\t\tExpert, exclusive gaming analysis\t\t\t<\/p>\n Sign up to the GameCentral newsletter<\/a> for a unique take on the week in gaming, alongside the latest reviews and more. Delivered to your inbox every Saturday morning.<\/p>\n I don\u2019t know what the solution to this is, but as far as I understand the situation is only getting worse every generation. Skipping a generation I really hope heads have rolled for this and I guess maybe they have with Jim Ryan leaving as the big boss, but is that really what happened? Did he leave because he was pushing live service games or was he booted out because he was fighting against them? I\u2019d guess it was him being in favour of them, but since he left we\u2019ve not really got a U-turn or anything. Now instead of having a bad plan for the future it\u2019s hard to tell if they have one at all.<\/p>\n Anyway, I look forward to playing Bluepoint\u2019s new game\u2026 on the PlayStation 6. Email your comments to: gamecentral@metro.co.uk<\/a><\/p>\n World\u2019s greatest hobby Currently playing, Super Mario<\/a> Galaxy 2 on Switch 2, Wheel World on PlayStation 5, Everybody\u2019s Golf on PlayStation 5, and Pok\u00e9mon LeafGreen Version on Game Boy Advance.<\/p>\n Video games are such a great hobby, I\u2019ve got a lot of catching up to do though. Gunship 2025 It made all the difference. I also used to go onto almost empty servers \u2013 not sure if you can do that with Battlefield 6 \u2013 and practice flying. GC: That\u2019s a good, if expensive, idea. The problem is Battlefield 6\u2019s controls are relatively realistic and because flying a helicopter is really hard many people never get around to learning it properly.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n A real belter I enjoy playing as four characters and think I have settled on a favourite, but change my mind after a powerful run with a different character. It has been a while since a game has made me lose track of time, which I always a sign of excellent game design. The graphics are phenomenal, and I still spot some details I missed each run, and the soundtrack is sublime. The music that plays over the credits you can select on the main screen is a standout for me.<\/p>\n Playing online has been really fun and I hope there is some DLC down the line. With Silksong, Hades 2, and now Absolum, 2025 has been a great year for smaller excellent developers to shine. GC: Belt scrolling means moving up and down, as well as left and right, which doesn\u2019t include all beat \u2018em-ups, particularly some of the older ones.<\/p>\n Becoming a statistic Nintendo gets a lot of slack that other publishers don\u2019t, just because they make great games, but this is greed pure and simple. Someone looked on a spreadsheet and decided that spending the money to make a better game was not worth it, if a big enough percentage of people are going to buy it anyway. I don\u2019t really want to be one of those people. Gross profit The leaks suggest Pok\u00e9mon Legends: Z-A had a development budget of \u00a39m. The game costs \u00a340 on Switch and \u00a359 on Switch 2. As I understand, the last Pok\u00e9mon Legends game sold about 14.8 million copies.<\/p>\n If the new game sold as many copies as its predecessor, even at the lower Switch price, it would represent a gross profit margin of 98.5%. Meaning around \u00a339.40 of each copy sold would be pure gross profit.<\/p>\n After that, they\u2019d still have to account for other costs that aren\u2019t included in the development budget, and of course many copies will be sold for less than \u00a340, but I\u2019d still say \u2018ludicrously lucrative\u2019 doesn\u2019t begin to describe it.<\/p>\n For Spider-Man 2 to achieve that margin, at $70 per copy and a development budget of \u00a3236 million it would have to sell 300 million copies. But then that would result in \u00a315.5 billion in profit, so you can see why margins don\u2019t need to be that high when you\u2019re spending a lot (and why even GTA 6 won\u2019t need anywhere near that many sales).<\/p>\n I\u2019m not advocating for stupidly high budgets but when The Pok\u00e9mon Company are likely to be raking it in when spending so little, could they maybe consider aiming for, say, a not-much-less-obscene 95% gross profit margin, which would free up enough to almost triple the game\u2019s budget? GC: Less profit? That\u2019s blasphemy as far as any businessperson is concerned. But yes, it\u2019s an absurd situation. Especially as higher production levels would almost certainly lead to higher sales, albeit not necessarily in proportion to the money spent.<\/p>\n Inbox also-rans So, if Sony are aiming for 2027 for PlayStation 6, that means Xbox is going to do the same too, right? I mean, that\u2019s the console dead already. Their only chance was coming out early, like with the Xbox 360, but if they don\u2019t, I can\u2019t see anyone choosing a next gen Xbox over a PlayStation 6. Email your comments to: gamecentral@metro.co.uk<\/a><\/p>\n The small print You can also submit your own 500 to 600-word Reader\u2019s Feature at any time via email or our Submit Stuff page<\/a>, which if used will be shown in the next available weekend slot.<\/p>\n You can also leave your comments below and don\u2019t forget to follow us on Twitter<\/a>.<\/p>\n Arrow Arrow Arrow
I liked that you called out Nintendo<\/a> for their cheapness in your Pok\u00e9mon Legends: Z-A review<\/a>. There\u2019s absolutely no excuse for such terrible graphics and no voice-acting. Having everything voiced is something even a lot of indie games<\/a> do nowadays, so the idea that Nintendo can\u2019t afford it for such a successful franchise as Pok\u00e9mon is clearly nonsense. As is the idea that the game is somehow made better by having no one talk.<\/p>\n
Glottis<\/p>\n
I know it\u2019s been said before, about a developer only being able to make one game per generation, but I don\u2019t think we\u2019ve ever had an actual example of that until now, with Sucker Punch<\/a>. The crazy thing is Ghost Of Y\u014dtei didn\u2019t even take that long to make: five years at a maximum, depending on when they actually started.<\/p>\n
Bobby<\/p>\n
So, in the same day we get one Sony developer that\u2019s only made one game this gen (that released this month, so only just) and one that\u2019s made nothing at all, with Bluepoint Games<\/a>. There\u2019s almost no point saying anything else, as those facts alone shows how much Sony has dropped the ball with first party games this gen.<\/p>\n
Dolt<\/p>\n
Thanks for your review of Pok\u00e9mon Legends: Z-A. I will probably buy it on Thursday. However, I have got a number of Pok\u00e9mon games in my backlog, so I started playing Pok\u00e9mon LeafGreen Version on Game Boy Advance today.<\/p>\n
Ed<\/p>\n
The article on Call Of Duty players moving to Battlefield 6 and struggling with helicopters was interesting, as controls were blamed for most of the issues. I have played Call Of Duty and Battlefield games for 20+ years and the best thing I did, probably about 15 years ago, was to by a joystick and throttle control (Thrustmaster) and place it in front, so on getting into a helicopter meant putting my mouse to the side and switching to pre-calibrated controls.<\/p>\n
Jay<\/p>\n
Well, Absolum<\/a> has been my surprise gem of the year. After a somewhat repetitive initial two to three hours the game just opens up and becomes something really special. Playing on the Switch 2 it\u2019s perfect. I have always been a fan of \u2018belt scrollers\u2019 \u2013 is that the term these days? The fusion of persistent upgrades after runs really elevates the genre and while Hades does storytelling better, I am more drawn to the gameplay in Absolum.<\/p>\n
Bristolpete<\/p>\n
Appreciate the review of Pok\u00e9mon Legends: Z-A. I\u2019m in two minds as to whether to get it, as while I like the sound of it, I really don\u2019t want to encourage Nintendo making so little effort when it comes to the graphics. I also agree with you on the ide of voice-acting, which Pok\u00e9mon should have had since at least Sword and Shield.<\/p>\n
Kendo<\/p>\n
For those content enough with their lives not to bother with speculative arithmetic, here are a few fun commercial nuggets that can live rent free in our heads for the rest of the generation.<\/p>\n
Panda<\/p>\n
Is Ubisoft actively trying to sabotage their plans on Switch 2? Why didn\u2019t they announce Assassin\u2019s Creed Shadows<\/a> at the last Nintendo Direct? It\u2019s not like there was much else of interest in it.
Kleigger<\/p>\n
Casper<\/p>\n
New Inbox updates appear every weekday morning, with special Hot Topic Inboxes at the weekend. Readers\u2019 letters are used on merit and may be edited for length and content.<\/p>\n
\nMORE: Games Inbox: Is Battlefield 6 only for hardcore gamers?<\/a><\/p>\n
\nMORE: Games Inbox: Is Battlefield 6 worth playing?<\/a><\/p>\n
\nMORE: Games Inbox: What will the PS6 do that the PS5 can\u2019t?<\/a><\/p>\n