By using this site, you agree to our Privacy Policy and our Terms of Use. Close
aragod said:
jarrod said:
MonstaMack said:

For once I think Pachter is right. Retailers do get a good chunk ($12 seems fair) for each game. I think with a 50 million dollar budget a game should easily break a million or more (if not It would be a flop, wouldn't it?) but it makes you wonder how much the average Wii game costs, or games like Deadly Premonition. Obviously not every game costs the same to make.

 

I work in retail and the mark up % did account to close to $12 profit per game. I think it was around $4 for a $20 game, so that means budget games have to sell a lot more or actual be budget in budget development costs (lol). So I hope Deadly Prem didn't run them much.

Does he also factor in price cuts? I mean if the game drops to $40 it has to obviously sell more to make up for the difference.

Average multiplatfom HD game R&D budget: $15-30m, AAA HD games regularly exceed $40m

Average Wii game R&D budget: $5-7m

Average budget for GC/PS2/Xbox games last gen: $3-5m

For AAA HD games, typically advertising budgets match or exceed development budgets.

And a few random R&D budgets...

  • Gears of War: $10m (no engine/tech costs, built "for free" alongside UE3)
  • Red Steel: $12m
  • Spore: $35m
  • Gran Turismo 5: $60m
  • Grand Theft Auto IV: $100m+
  • Modern Warfare 2: $40-50m ($200m advertising budget)

I just wonder where did you get access to these numbers, I'm curious as I'd like to find out few more game budgets.

Mostly Develop Magazine and Gamasutra.  Just google the figures and you'll find links.