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Forums - Sony Discussion - development of GoW: A (may or may not) have cost 50 million $

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platformmaster918 on 21 April 2013
veritaz said:
As everyone else already mentioned, no way it's $50 million and the article provides no proof to confirm it either. It can't cost more to produce than GOW 3 when they already have all the tools, engine, reused models just no chance.

maybe they're factoring in marketing?  idk with the superbowl ad that's the only way I can imagine it getting close to this




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Barozi on 21 April 2013

While possible, from that comment it's impossible to draw exactly this conclusion.



Turkish on 21 April 2013

More for a prequel than GoW3?



naruball on 21 April 2013
Nsanity said:
binary solo said:
If the game cost $50 million to produce, then factoring in marketing costs this game needs to sell ~1.2 million at full price to turn a profit.

The Super Bowl advertisment alone was probably a few million.

There was no superbowl advertisement. It aired online (remember only a few million people watch it online) and it must have cost much less than a million. It got the same exposure it would have received if it aired on the relatively unknown show Arrow and I'm sure that can't be more than a few thousands of dollars (nowhere near a million). If anyone has any more information on this, please enlighten us, but let's not call it a superbowl ad, when it didn't air on CBS.



veritaz on 21 April 2013
platformmaster918 said:
veritaz said:
As everyone else already mentioned, no way it's $50 million and the article provides no proof to confirm it either. It can't cost more to produce than GOW 3 when they already have all the tools, engine, reused models just no chance.

maybe they're factoring in marketing?  idk with the superbowl ad that's the only way I can imagine it getting close to this.

The super bowl ad was only online so it couldn't cost that much.



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shanbcn on 21 April 2013

$25 million for development and another $25 million for marketing seem about right. Also remember Santa Monica split in to 2 teams right after GoW III released. So less people worked on Ascension because engine was already done.



Panama on 21 April 2013

'middle' was interpreted as 50 million? Daily reminder that these people get paid for this level of journalism.



platformmaster918 on 21 April 2013
veritaz said:
platformmaster918 said:
veritaz said:
As everyone else already mentioned, no way it's $50 million and the article provides no proof to confirm it either. It can't cost more to produce than GOW 3 when they already have all the tools, engine, reused models just no chance.

maybe they're factoring in marketing?  idk with the superbowl ad that's the only way I can imagine it getting close to this.

The super bowl ad was only online so it couldn't cost that much.

this is true but there was a lot of marketing is all I'm saying.




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Barozi on 21 April 2013
kowenicki said:
binary solo said:
kowenicki said:
binary solo said:
Nsanity said:
binary solo said:
If the game cost $50 million to produce, then factoring in marketing costs this game needs to sell ~1.2 million at full price to turn a profit.

The Super Bowl advertisment alone was probably a few million.

Yep 1.2 million @ full price = $72 million. I figure around $20 million marketing, 10% of the marketing budget on Superbowl sounds about right.

retailers sell it for free? 

That's the $2 million. Don't retailers get screwed on new games?


Last number I saw was that the retailer gets $15 from a $60 game:

 

As you can see, for a typical console-based video game that costs U.S. $60:

  • $15 goes to Retailers: eg: GameStop, Electronic Boutique, Walmart, Amazon
  • $7 goes to Returns/PP/MDF: Returns are money paid-out to retailers for product returns. PP stands for “price-protection” which is money paid back through the chain if/when the publisher reduces the video game’s price. MDF stands for  ‘Marketing Development Funds” which are paid to retailers for promotions such as TV ads, local flyers, and in-store marketing displays.
  • $4 goes to Distribution/COGs: Distribution = shipping and warehousing. COGs = Cost of goods sale. ie: the cost of the physical DVD, manufacturing, the instruction manual and the case.
  • $7  Platform Royalty Fee: For every game sold approximately $7 goes to Microsoft, Sony or Nintendo, as applicable, for whatever platform the game plays on – eg: Xbox 360, PS3, Wii.
  • $27 goes to the Publisher. Unfortunately this $27 is not further broken down to show how much of the $27 typically goes to independent developers. The amount paid to independant video game developers can be anywhere from 10% to 70% of the amount paid to the publisher – but often only after the publisher has first recouped any advances paid to such third party developers.

Exactly. 1.47m sales at full price needed IF the $50m figure is correct.

If marketing is included nothing changes, if marketing is excluded expect another 300k to recoup the costs.


Though speculating about guessed data that don't rely on any basis is rather worthless. At least for this particular game.
Also non Sony games on Sony platforms would obviously need more to break even.



Attoyou on 21 April 2013

Holy shit I hope not. The game still needed more time. By far the buggiest God Of War, graphics at times still needed polished, it actually looked worse than God Of war 3 in a lot of areas. One my favorite franchises but that game was a bit of a mess.



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