Game Development n Sales

[Kantor]

bullsize said:

1. how much does an average game costs to develop for either X360,PS3 or PC?

2. What r benefits of going console exclusive( Gears 2,Killzone 2) or PC exclusive( Crysis,Bioshock)

u shorten ur sales base by that,huh?

3.How much Game publisher makes from the sales of a game

                             a. Activision from hit like COD waw which has sold 11+mill units

                             b.Sony from a PS3 xclusive KIllzone 2 which has sold just about 1.5 mill

4.How much do they lose for a flop

eg. Capcom for Bionic commando

 

Plz reply for money in terms of dollars,if u can guess,Plz

 

 

 

Firstly, please learn to type without all manner of annoying shortcuts. I find "u" and "plz" particularly annoying. You have a keyboard, it's not like you're typing with a Sixaxis (if you were, you wouldn't have an enter key).

1) Anything from $5-15 million for a cheap game, but expensive ones can go as high as $100 million (GTA IV)

2) Free advertising, you usually get money from the company for consoles. And you picked very odd examples, because Microsoft has a contract for Gears of War, and even stranger, Sony OWNS and DEVELOPS Killzone 2... You also spend less on development. As for PC, firstly, BioShock isn't a PC exclusive in any way, shape or form- it's on PS3 and 360. And developing for PC is generally easier, and you have a higher install base because PC owners >>>>>>> console owners (in number). Many smallish studios, like Valve, choose to do this (although they sometimes port to 360 since the architecture is so similar)

3) a) A hell of a lot. At full price, publisher gets something like $25 per game. 11 million = $275 million.

b) A hell of a lot. Publisher + console owner gets something like $30. So, 1.6 million * 30 = $48 million. Less than World at War, yes, but it's still selling, and it's on one platform. World at War undoubtedly made more profit, though.

4) Oh, dear. You'll have to define flop, because some people think LBP is a flop with well over 2 million sold. If a game sells, say, 300k, and the publisher gets $25 per sale, that's $7.5 million. Which, depending on the game, may make a profit. If the game makes it to a million, with say 600k at full price and 400k at Greatest Hits, that's $15 million for the full price and, say, $6 million for the Greatest Hits, or $21 million. Enough to make a profit, on most games. So not a lot of high profile games lose money, I don't think.