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Posted May 7, 2014 by Adam in News
 
 

Destiny To Cost $500 Million To Make

destiny
destiny

GTA V’s record for the most expensive video game ever didn’t last too long, following an interview with Activision CEO Bobby Kotick who claimed that Destiny would cost around $500 million to produce and market.

This makes the brand new IP from Halo developers Bungie the most expensive entertainment production of all time, easily trumping the $250 million that GTA V cost to produce, and the $300 million that Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End required.

While Activision Blizzard Inc are hardly a small business, and Bungie have an almost established fan base from their Halo franchise, this is still being seen by many as a huge gamble to take, and perhaps a sign that Activision are keen to have a back up to the ever flagging sales of their Call Of Duty franchise. CoD: Ghosts, while commercially successful, sold what has been estimated to be 25% less than the previous title, CoD: Black Ops II. While Activision blamed this drop on the next generation of consoles introducing uncertainty into the market, it would perhaps be more accurate (and humbling) to say that the many years of criticism levelled at the franchise by its fanbase has now caught up with them.

Analysts have already crunched the numbers and suggested between 15 and 16 million copies would need to be sold at the price of $60 in order to recoup the cost of the title so far. That’s not outside the realms of possibility given that GTA V easily trumped 32.5 million units after five months on the shelves, although many expect 8 million units to be a more realistic outcome, and a good one for a brand new IP. Placing these figures in the context of the Halo franchise (where no doubt many fans of Bungie will make up the initial playerbase of Destiny), it was Halo 3 that posted the biggest sales for Bungie, selling 11.87 million units. However this is obviously hamstrung by the fact that the title was only ever released on the Xbox 360, whereas Destiny will be a cross platform title on both old and next gen Sony and Xbox consoles.

The $500 million isn’t just going to be blown on the one game however, and Activision spokesman confirmed that part of that costs includes the support of backend infrastructure that would make future development costs a lot cheaper. It’s clear that this amount of money ties directly into the ten year contract that Bungie have signed with Activision, and that even lacklustre sales of the first title may not necessarily mean that it’ll be the last you’ll hear of the Destiny universe.

Kotick fully expects Destiny to be the next big money spinner for Activision, so it’ll be interesting to see how those intial sales play out when it hits the shelves on the 9th September 2014.

Source: www.reuters.com


Adam

 
Playing games since I'd developed enough motor functions to hold a joystick. From Commodore 64 all the way through to the latest gen. Favourite games to play are FPS games and anything with a deep and compelling story and a world that draws you in. I also enjoy writing, film making and playing bass in whatever band will have me :)