Activision to Spend $500 Million to Develop and Market Destiny
- Thread starter Alex Co
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I don't really care. It's just madness, really, 500 millions and they expect 15 millions of unit sold.
It's impossible for a new IP hidden behind a paywall or they have a secret feature, weapon or whatever that will blow everything but i seriously doubt it.
Since Activision have CoD, Wow and Skylander they'll survive. I just hope for Bungie they didn't oversell their game to Activision shareholders... But it's not my problem.
It's impossible for a new IP hidden behind a paywall or they have a secret feature, weapon or whatever that will blow everything but i seriously doubt it.
Since Activision have CoD, Wow and Skylander they'll survive. I just hope for Bungie they didn't oversell their game to Activision shareholders... But it's not my problem.
Whilst I agree with the main idea in this thread that 500 million is a ridiculous amount to spend on marketing and server development, it's kinda pissing me off that everybody seems to be currently seeing this article and blaming Bungie as well as Activision and fobbing them off because of it. You guys need to realise that all of the ridiculous shit that's being spouted out about the biggest selling franchise in history and stuff is all from KOTICK not Bungie.
I personally think that the game looks really good and seems like a fun mix of borderlands and halo with quite a bit of original content and so it annoys me that I see all these people who want it to fail, I honestly would like Bungie to keep going thank you very much because
A) they make fantastic games and;
B) they have a studio of 500 people, they need to get payed as well!
Too many people nowadays forget about the developers who have been working in this case for 6 bloody years on this game and instead focus on what the publisher is doing.
I personally think that the game looks really good and seems like a fun mix of borderlands and halo with quite a bit of original content and so it annoys me that I see all these people who want it to fail, I honestly would like Bungie to keep going thank you very much because
A) they make fantastic games and;
B) they have a studio of 500 people, they need to get payed as well!
Too many people nowadays forget about the developers who have been working in this case for 6 bloody years on this game and instead focus on what the publisher is doing.
They would have done their market research for a start and there is their in house experience. Between the two companies involved they developed two of the biggest gaming franchise around. If Spielberg comes up up to you and says I want $500 million for next my movie, you are more likely to say yes because of 40 years of success in the industry. There is always a risk but good track records mitigate those as much as possible. Kotick didn't get to be a billionaire for no reason and he guessed right on all the other big choices in the last 20 years.shirkbot said:
Pretty much. The AAA industry is being forced to spend more on their games due to poor publicity leading to a need for strong marketing, rising development costs to keep fidelity high, and general studio mismanagement. Meanwhile, indies and kickstarters from industry veterans are proving that we don't really need these massive budgets to produce good games, and a lot of what the AAA publishers are doing is smoke and mirrors.Under_your_bed said:$500 million on one game? That might literally be a world record.
Considering how much we've seen the failure of games to meet sales expectations recently [http://pixelenemy.com/ea-reveals-dead-space-3-crysis-3-sales-well-below-forecasts-in-financials-call/], we seem to be rapidly approaching that crash that's been promised for so long now [http://www.notenoughshaders.com/2012/07/02/the-rise-of-costs-the-fall-of-gaming/].
man, Kotick had better hope this does gangbusters or his neck is on the line. $500 MILLION? That's a pretty outrageous budget, even for a AAA title.
Can't help feeling like publishers have started treating budgets like some kind of marketing ego stroke.
This keeping up with the Jones' crap is going to kill us.
Wasting money is not a competitive sport.
Fun with maths: Five hundred million banked at half a percent interest comes out to two and a half million a month. Even with infrastructure costs you could fund a team of a hundred people at 25k/mo per head, which is definitely more than you need.
Now, a significant part of that is marketing, not development, and I'm not saying they shouldn't spend some money on marketing. I'm just saying boondoggles, man. Sustainable business practices are our friend. I realize this might be a bit naive of me, but it seems like you could spend that kind of money making sure you never needed that kind of money again and still be pushing product.
This keeping up with the Jones' crap is going to kill us.
Wasting money is not a competitive sport.
Fun with maths: Five hundred million banked at half a percent interest comes out to two and a half million a month. Even with infrastructure costs you could fund a team of a hundred people at 25k/mo per head, which is definitely more than you need.
Now, a significant part of that is marketing, not development, and I'm not saying they shouldn't spend some money on marketing. I'm just saying boondoggles, man. Sustainable business practices are our friend. I realize this might be a bit naive of me, but it seems like you could spend that kind of money making sure you never needed that kind of money again and still be pushing product.
Outside of military R&D or running a government, $500 Million is a pretty outrageous budget for anything.Aiddon said:
What I don't understand is why they went to all the trouble of giving it such gorgeous art design and classes, and decided to make it a co-op shooter or MMO or whatever? This could have been their Mass Effect; but they decided to make a Borderlands knock-off?
to do this, and to remove the biggest gaming trend AND the earlier adopters of said trend (Digital Revenue and PC gamers) is the stupidest thing ever. Even if there were steam sales, there have been cases of some games being dropped to .99 cents and in one day being more profitable than any other day before it.
Lastly, just from a design standpoint... you're going to make a shooter, and you're going to take out the one control scheme that most FPS'ers prefer?
I don't understand.
Lastly, just from a design standpoint... you're going to make a shooter, and you're going to take out the one control scheme that most FPS'ers prefer?
I don't understand.
Ok, we really need to take a step back.
When it comes to the point where it costs £500,000 to make a video game that'll probably just be Halo but not actually, and will hopefully capture the monkey fratboys' attention for a few hours, then it's not constant and higher spending; it's looking at it like this.
Do you really need to pour that much money into a video game?
When it comes to the point where it costs £500,000 to make a video game that'll probably just be Halo but not actually, and will hopefully capture the monkey fratboys' attention for a few hours, then it's not constant and higher spending; it's looking at it like this.
Do you really need to pour that much money into a video game?
You seemed to have ignored the part where I said that 500 million in any case was ridiculous amount of money to spend developing a game. Also I'm sorry that my post has led you to respond in such an anger and rude manner I was merely putting out my 2 cents and also yes I do feel bad when a company goes down no matter what the game quality is unless they made some spectacularly poor ones. I would not want to see anybody lose their jobs for any reason apart from some they directly and intentionally did wrong.Kalezian said:
The reason that Duke Nukem Forever was such a shit game was because they were creating a game using older tech than was already out so were having to constantly develop the game for when the new consoles came out. That means all their had work went out the window and as Yahtzee put it "people want a house built so they can have a lovely view of a houseboat but the boat keeps moving". Compare that to know where they have already got to grips with the ps3 and xbox architecture so are able to make a high quality game which they are mown for doing.
Once again I'm sorry my post made you angry or frustrated or whatever.
You can't say Game(s) plural whilst only supplying one answer. Also, you can't use GTA as your example, even if it had been released on PC, it likely would've been buggier than all hell and extremely poorly optimized, as is the norm these days. That's also disregarding the rather large fanbase for a game like GTA, plus we knew this time around they were planning for a more back-to-the-good-times type gta, rather than the mundane GTA IV. That's also a thing.dragongit said:Yet games like Grant Theft Auto 5 did just fine without the PC. So... that's a thing.Revolutionary said:Were gonna' sell 15 million copies without releasing to the pc.
OT: That's 50 million a year, or enough money to ensure 500 families can spend the rest of their lives with little/any difficulty living. That seems a bit much to spend on a piece of entertainment, but since they're also creating an engine to go with it, I guess I can see the expense being semi justifiable.
Why exactly are they spending that much money on this game? I've seen some gameplay footage and it looks dull, exceedingly dull. I have no idea how they intend to kill CoD with this when it looks like something that just about any competant developer could have made in less time with far less money. I just don't get it.
I think it's mostly because they keep pushing its online functionality. Admittedly it's KIND of neat, but nothing I would consider any more revolutionary than most MMOs. Seriously, if this DOESN'T light the world on fire for Activision than Bungie is probably gonna be in trouble.Sordin said:
Oh well done, Activision. Treating game development like throwing 100 million dollar darts at the wall to see what sticks was working so well that shoving more cash into it is certainly the wise choice.
Somehow I suspect I'm not the only one getting flashbacks to Star Wars: The Old Republic right now... And I think we know how that one has been panning out.
Also, (though it's been said): $500 million, and you couldn't get a PC version out? If they really need 15 million units to break even... This is a bad position to be in. A cross-platform game, even one from Bungie, seems unlikely to tickle the fancy of those who are [still] looking to justify their early purchase of the latest generation of hardware. Releasing for PC these days is more than stretching into one more market; it's voicing a measure of confidence that your game will look good on the most powerful hardware out there.
I don't know. I usually want to believe the minds behind things like this know what they're doing, to some extent; that they aren't just blowing the GDP of Dominica on hubris and swagger. But it seems like they're betting on Bungie's name to deliver Halo and then some, and I don't know that such confidence is entirely warranted. Especially as Destiny looks to be online-only, thus immediately cutting into their potential customer base.
At least for $500 million, they have absolutely no excuses for server issues on day one...
Also, (though it's been said): $500 million, and you couldn't get a PC version out? If they really need 15 million units to break even... This is a bad position to be in. A cross-platform game, even one from Bungie, seems unlikely to tickle the fancy of those who are [still] looking to justify their early purchase of the latest generation of hardware. Releasing for PC these days is more than stretching into one more market; it's voicing a measure of confidence that your game will look good on the most powerful hardware out there.
I don't know. I usually want to believe the minds behind things like this know what they're doing, to some extent; that they aren't just blowing the GDP of Dominica on hubris and swagger. But it seems like they're betting on Bungie's name to deliver Halo and then some, and I don't know that such confidence is entirely warranted. Especially as Destiny looks to be online-only, thus immediately cutting into their potential customer base.
At least for $500 million, they have absolutely no excuses for server issues on day one...
Gears of War 1 was made and advertised on a budget of $10 million.
This is $500 million. Half a billion. That's insane.
At that price, it must sell over 16 MILLION copies at full $60 retail to just BREAK EVEN.
What would also mean that every last man, woman, and child that currently has an PS4 and and Xbox One must buy the game.
This is starting to remind me of the Atari E.T. game....
This is $500 million. Half a billion. That's insane.
At that price, it must sell over 16 MILLION copies at full $60 retail to just BREAK EVEN.
What would also mean that every last man, woman, and child that currently has an PS4 and and Xbox One must buy the game.
This is starting to remind me of the Atari E.T. game....
500 million dollars. you know what $500 million will buy you? The Canadian Football League. All of it. Teams, player contracts, offices, training facilities and stadiums. Activison could buy an entire pro football league with what they're going to spend on this game, and knowing their track record, would probably get better returns out of it.