By using this site, you agree to our Privacy Policy and our Terms of Use. Close
SxyxS on 14 September 2013
Edit Thread
JWeinCom said:
SxyxS said:
wow 101 being released on another system=noone would doubt the claims that it need to sell more than 2 mio units
to break even.Why is this such an important topic for wii U and why is it so unlikely??


According to the head of Onlive, a publisher takes inabout $27 of margin on a $60 game. (http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/entertainmentnewsbuzz/2010/02/anatomy-of-a-60-dollar-video-game.html) This is after factoring in unsold inventory, shipping, and platform fees.  In the case of first party software, platform fees are non-existant, so Nintendo is taking in 34 bucks per copy of Wonderful 101.

So, 34 bucks per copy of the game, and Nintendo needs to sell 2 million copies to break even.  So, the game costs 68 million dollars to make.  To see if this figure is realistic, lets compare it to other games.

The budget for GTA V is the biggest budget ever with 265 million dollars invested in marketing, development and so on.  So, 68 million is just about 1/4 of that.  Do you think Wonderful 101's budget is 1/4 of GTA V?  GTA IV was 100 million.  Do you think Wonderful 101 was more than half of that? (http://www.ibtimes.com/gta-5-costs-265-million-develop-market-making-it-most-expensive-video-game-ever-produced-report)

Skyrim's budget was estimated at 85 million dollars.  So, Wonderful 101's budget is more than 3/5 of Skyrim?  (http://www.statisticbrain.com/skyrim-the-elder-scrolls-v-statistics/)

Unforutnately, there's little date out there to find how much middle of the road games cost, and most budgets are estimates, so it's hard to give an exact number.  All the same, it's hard to see how a game made by a smallish team cost nearly 68 million.  There is no extensive voice acting, no cutting edge graphics, no huge marketing blitz, no hours of cutscenes, no huge open world, and nothing that would suggest an astronomical budget.  A little common sense would tell us that there is absolutely no reason that the fiscally conservative Nintendo would dump 68 million dollars into a game that doesn't seem to need it.

sounds plausible-i think the overall margin(incl pricedrops ,unsold copies on the one side+ the digital sales(no manufacturing costs,retail)on the other side) should be somewhere between 20-25.

 

but i think 10mio developing costs is possible.New console=problems=new graphic engine etc.

As I know eg open world games are pretty expensive and i'm pretty sure lego city wasn't cheap at all.Maybe just half as expensive as an average(non-gta) open world game.

I woudn't tend to say that all Nintendo games have low production costs though Most of their games do