With the spread of smartphones, an era where you can easily enjoy app games anytime / anywhere. You can see many people enjoying app games when they get on the train.
Did you know that the game industry is a rare industry that continues to grow regardless of economic conditions? From the seminar by Kenji Hiruta, a game creator who has various titles such as the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications Regional Power Creation Advisor / NPO International Game Developers Association Japan Director, the latest equipment closely related to the current state of the game industry Let's take a look at the story.
[Basic knowledge of the game industry] The market size continues to grow regardless of economic conditions!
First of all, about the market size of the game industry. According to Mr. Hiruta, the game market continues to expand, and is not affected much by the Lehman shock around 2008 and the new corona that continues from 2020 to the present. The gaming industry seems to be a very special and vibrant market in the sense that it will continue to expand regardless of social conditions.
The number of downloads of blockbuster games has reached tens of millions, and monthly sales can exceed 10 billion yen. However, looking at the market as a whole, sales are dominated by some popular titles, and in most cases they are in an extremely oligopolistic state. While it is difficult to succeed, it seems to be an industry with dreams.
As for the difficulty in developing / managing games, general software is like a "passenger car" that requires safety and stability, while games are subject to cutting-edge technological research and are from other companies. Mr. Hiruta says that it is like a "racing car" that you have to aim for even a little ahead.
Mr. Hiruta explained the cost of developing a game by taking a small project as an example. As a general organizational chart, there is a director under the producer, and people such as planners, programmers, graphic designers hang under it.
Even for the small-scale project introduced this time, the number of people involved is about 10, the development period is 10 months, the monthly unit price is about 800,000 yen, and the labor cost is as high as 80 million yen. If you make a contract with a better creator, it is not uncommon for the monthly unit price to be 1 million yen or 2 million yen.
On the other hand, the equipment used for development is 300,000 yen per person if you have an inexpensive set, 500,000 yen even if it is expensive equipment, and 3 million yen / 5 million yen for 10 people, respectively. Considering that the difference is 2 million yen, the impact is considerably smaller than the labor cost.
It seems that collecting excellent equipment has the advantage of improving work efficiency and at the same time making it easier to attract human resources, so it is important to have good equipment as an environment for developing games, Mr. Hiruta said. I am.
We also introduced two HUAWEI monitor models, laptops, and tablets as equipment used in game development sites, so let's check them one by one.
"HUAWEI MateView GT" was introduced as the first monitor product. It is a 34-inch wide-type large-screen display that is curved on the left and right, making it highly visible and immersive.
The resolution is as high as 3K and it supports a 165Hz refresh rate, so a smooth screen display is possible. It is said to be useful during game test play.
Another monitor product is "HUAWEI MateView". The 28.2-inch display has a high resolution of 4K + and an aspect ratio of 3: 2, which is a model that adopts a design that is vertically longer than a general external monitor.
HUAWEI MateView on the left, HUAWEI MateView GT on the right
As an example of use in game development, it is convenient to use it for programmer coding. Because the coding screen is generally long vertically, the "HUAWEI MateView", which has a large vertical width, can display more information at once, and it seems that it is easy to grasp the whole image.
Also, when graphic designers draw pictures, many of the materials are square, so a monitor with a shape close to a square is useful, says Mr. Hiruta.
Especially in game development sites these days, it is common to use two monitors side by side, so there is also the background that a vertically long monitor is more practical than a wide type monitor.
The tablet product "HUAWEI MatePad 11" is a convenient device for in-house meetings. Since it can be projected wirelessly on the "HUAWEI MateView", you can easily share handwritten figures and memos while having a meeting. It is said that it is efficient in shortening the meeting time.
If you use a laptop computer called "HUAWEI MateBook X Pro" that can be connected wirelessly in the same way, you can also connect "HUAWEI MatePad 11" and "HUAWEI MateBook X Pro" and output to the monitor with a wired connection. .. In recent years, we often collaborate with other companies in the game, so it was convenient to be able to achieve both mobility and compatibility even when on the go.
Interview / text / Fumihiko Sato