By using this site, you agree to our Privacy Policy and our Terms of Use. Close
jammy2211 on 15 January 2010
Edit Thread
LordTheNightKnight said:
"Why some people always claim that HD Consoles generate the loss for 3rd party developers. Why are they focusing on the HD consoles if its such a bad buisness.

It seems like a myth not reality. has someone actually NUMBERS or anything else to support this claim ? Numbers which show that its HD console development which is the reason for this."

Developers are reporting losses. Those are their own numbers, not ours. Take Two is losing money. EA is losing money. Ubisoft has recently been reporting losses. Capcom and S_E haven't been loosing money, but have had reduced profits.

As for thinking people wouldn't stick with a bad business, you should study human nature.

That hardly proves HD investment is unprofitable though, does it? Even after profits made, companies are sinking money into lots of other things, paying execs 'above' the developers, spending on rnd on non-game related matters, market research, cancelled projects etc.

 The San Diego story that came out from Joystiq I think shows where alot of companies are sinking their moeny - mismanagement causes them to sinks a stupid amount of money into something and make it unprofitable. That's no the HD consoles fault, and it could happen on any games developement. It seems to happen less in the east, where I think the publishers have a better lid on their studios.

 It's foolish to assume going to the Wii will reap better profits for a company though, it depends entirely on circumstances. The western publishers are getting a pathetic amount out of the Wii userbase and it does need to step up, but at the same time non of them can afford to take risks in trying to sell on a market few have had success on. When I put myself in these companies shoes I think alot of them are in a really tight spot at the moment, and after most of them made their name in the Ps1 and Ps2 days they're not used to have two completely split markets.

 

 Also on the MW2 note, it has sold $1 billion at retail. As far as Activision are concerned, they make ~$30 per copy sold, so they're sitting at something like $600 million of that revenue once you factor in the extra money made from prestige editions etc. Mw2 will sell all year though, and the DLC will probably generate them an extra $100 million, plus whatever Microsoft paid for exclusivity...