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Forums - Sales Discussion - Heavenly Sword sold about 1.5m but devs didn't break even

letsdance on 29 March 2010
Kasz216 said:
letsdance said:
Kasz216 said:
In fact... to prove my point...

http://news.filefront.com/actors-get-fat-paychecks-for-video-game-voice-work/

Note how there "fat paychecks" are half a million... and this is dealing with Patrick Stewart... a MUCH bigger name then Andy. Much more distinct voice as well.


"lend" =/= Play lead role. Sorry it doesnt support you at all

You can not believe it all you want... but all logic is against you here.

You really think they spent 30 million on two voice actors when they probably saw at most 20% of revenue for their games?

That means they would of had to of sold nearly 3 million copies to have broken even on the voice acting alone.


You sir are hilucinating. I'm done with you. And I know movies get paid more. Thats common sense. That wasn't in response to you either thus the "to jarrod" part.



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jarrod on 29 March 2010
letsdance said:
Kasz216 said:
letsdance said:
Kasz216 said:
letsdance said:
jarrod said:
letsdance said:
jarrod said:
letsdance said:
jarrod said:
leo-j said:
that's really sad..

the game is 5 hours, and the budget was higher than MGS4s potentially.

Very sad

Eh, more than twice as many people worked on MGS4, and it was in development twice as long... pretty sure it's budget likely dwarfed Heavenly Sword's.


I doubt it. I think Kojima went the more traditional way in developing the MGS4. Ninjatheory was very ambitious in their developing with facial mocap and voicing famous people.

Uh, you know MGS4 used far, far more extensive mocap (including facial capture) than HS, right?  Just check the credits, MGS4's mocap credits alone rival the entire R&D teams for many other games.  MGS4 also had a huge voice cast, extensive CG and the entire network infrastructure R&D for MGO in there.  If you credit check, MGS4 credits almost 400 people!  

And that's just production, we're not even talking about promotional budgets...

They didn't have andy serkis. All those voice actors probablly got a couple of grand with the Snake maybe getting 100k. Niko in GTA4 only got 100k. I bet andy got a few million.

Andy who?

Sorry, just pour through the credits yourself (MGS4, Heavenly Sword).  There's pretty much no way HS was a higher cost production than MGS4...


Andy alone probably got paid as much as all of MSG4s entire cast.

I think you overestimate the cost of high level voice acting.  I mean, Mike Myers got 10 million for Shrek 2.  That's a movie, I'd be surprised if anyone in a videogame makes more then 500K VA.


A movie that was shorter than HS along with the fact that no game has had a VA who is as well known as "MY PRECIOUS" ontop of the fact that it just wasnt in the sound studio he also had to act it out. Unlike Mike. I bet Andy put more time in HS than mike in Shrek. I bet if a game studio was like "Hey mike we got a job for you. We want you to spend a year or two of your life in a sound studio and motion capture and we'll give you 500k" he'd say "fuck off I'm gonna make another shrek for 20 times that"

Jobs aren't paid based on how hard the work is.  Jobs are paid by how valuable the work is.

Mike Myers work in Shrek 2 was way more valuable then Andy's in HS.

Shrek 2 had a budget of 150 million.   It made just short of a billion... just in theatres.  Not counting DVDs, Merchandising etc..

 

Heavenly sword made what... 90 million... of which... they didn't even see 30% of that money?

You think they spend 30 million on 2 voice actors?  What kinda sales do you think they expected?


LOL way to pull a figure out of your ass and into my mouth.

BTW this is for Jarrod "The hobbit actors, Elijah Wood, Sean Astin, Billy Boyd and Dominic Monaghan received bonuses of between 430,000 and 560,000 per film. Bernard Hill and Ian McKellen earned 312,000 per film, with Liv Tyler making a little less."

I'd say it was very likely Smeagol got paid more than Liv.  So... Thats near 900k in just bonus'

Can you cite that?  Because in his tell-all-book, Sean Astin complained about getting paid only $250,000 for the entire trilogy.



Kasz216 on 29 March 2010
letsdance said:
Kasz216 said:
letsdance said:
Kasz216 said:
In fact... to prove my point...

http://news.filefront.com/actors-get-fat-paychecks-for-video-game-voice-work/

Note how there "fat paychecks" are half a million... and this is dealing with Patrick Stewart... a MUCH bigger name then Andy. Much more distinct voice as well.


"lend" =/= Play lead role. Sorry it doesnt support you at all

You can not believe it all you want... but all logic is against you here.

You really think they spent 30 million on two voice actors when they probably saw at most 20% of revenue for their games?

That means they would of had to of sold nearly 3 million copies to have broken even on the voice acting alone.


You sir are hilucinating. I'm done with you. And I know movies get paid more. Thats common sense. That wasn't in response to you either thus the "to jarrod" part.

I'm guessing your done with me because you know I'm correct and haven't even bothered to argue anything i've said.



Severance on 29 March 2010
urameshixr said:
no suprise..


this game not have not special and is average at best.

wha? its one of the best Hack and Slash games. the characters are just amazing.



I live for the burn...and the sting of pleasure...
I live for the sword, the steel, and the gun...

- Wasteland - The Mission.

freebs2 on 29 March 2010

I'm not so surprised by this considering free radical and factor5 failures after Haze and Lair....



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letsdance on 29 March 2010
jarrod said:
letsdance said:
Kasz216 said:
letsdance said:
Kasz216 said:
letsdance said:
jarrod said:
letsdance said:
jarrod said:
letsdance said:
jarrod said:
leo-j said:
that's really sad..

the game is 5 hours, and the budget was higher than MGS4s potentially.

Very sad

Eh, more than twice as many people worked on MGS4, and it was in development twice as long... pretty sure it's budget likely dwarfed Heavenly Sword's.


I doubt it. I think Kojima went the more traditional way in developing the MGS4. Ninjatheory was very ambitious in their developing with facial mocap and voicing famous people.

Uh, you know MGS4 used far, far more extensive mocap (including facial capture) than HS, right?  Just check the credits, MGS4's mocap credits alone rival the entire R&D teams for many other games.  MGS4 also had a huge voice cast, extensive CG and the entire network infrastructure R&D for MGO in there.  If you credit check, MGS4 credits almost 400 people!  

And that's just production, we're not even talking about promotional budgets...

They didn't have andy serkis. All those voice actors probablly got a couple of grand with the Snake maybe getting 100k. Niko in GTA4 only got 100k. I bet andy got a few million.

Andy who?

Sorry, just pour through the credits yourself (MGS4, Heavenly Sword).  There's pretty much no way HS was a higher cost production than MGS4...


Andy alone probably got paid as much as all of MSG4s entire cast.

I think you overestimate the cost of high level voice acting.  I mean, Mike Myers got 10 million for Shrek 2.  That's a movie, I'd be surprised if anyone in a videogame makes more then 500K VA.


A movie that was shorter than HS along with the fact that no game has had a VA who is as well known as "MY PRECIOUS" ontop of the fact that it just wasnt in the sound studio he also had to act it out. Unlike Mike. I bet Andy put more time in HS than mike in Shrek. I bet if a game studio was like "Hey mike we got a job for you. We want you to spend a year or two of your life in a sound studio and motion capture and we'll give you 500k" he'd say "fuck off I'm gonna make another shrek for 20 times that"

Jobs aren't paid based on how hard the work is.  Jobs are paid by how valuable the work is.

Mike Myers work in Shrek 2 was way more valuable then Andy's in HS.

Shrek 2 had a budget of 150 million.   It made just short of a billion... just in theatres.  Not counting DVDs, Merchandising etc..

 

Heavenly sword made what... 90 million... of which... they didn't even see 30% of that money?

You think they spend 30 million on 2 voice actors?  What kinda sales do you think they expected?


LOL way to pull a figure out of your ass and into my mouth.

BTW this is for Jarrod "The hobbit actors, Elijah Wood, Sean Astin, Billy Boyd and Dominic Monaghan received bonuses of between 430,000 and 560,000 per film. Bernard Hill and Ian McKellen earned 312,000 per film, with Liv Tyler making a little less."

I'd say it was very likely Smeagol got paid more than Liv.  So... Thats near 900k in just bonus'

Can you cite that?  Because in his tell-all-book, Sean Astin complained about getting paid only $250,000 for the entire trilogy.


Sean Astin was a no name before the films. His role wasn't very important either(Not like frodo or gandalf). They could have casted anyone for it. He was the dummy that accepted a 83k a movie contract. I'm sure he probablly could have negotiated better pay. Especially since the movies had over 100 million budget per title.

Heres the source The London Daily Mail (5 December 2003)



Alceste007 on 29 March 2010
Severance said:
urameshixr said:
no suprise..


this game not have not special and is average at best.

wha? its one of the best Hack and Slash games. the characters are just amazing.

Yeah, Heavenly Sword was alot of fun for me as well. My main complaint was the good was very short.



Severance on 29 March 2010
letsdance said:
Kasz216 said:
In fact... to prove my point...

http://news.filefront.com/actors-get-fat-paychecks-for-video-game-voice-work/

Note how there "fat paychecks" are half a million... and this is dealing with Patrick Stewart... a MUCH bigger name then Andy. Much more distinct voice as well.


"lend" =/= Play lead role. Sorry it doesnt support you at all

the lead role in this game is a woman >_>;



I live for the burn...and the sting of pleasure...
I live for the sword, the steel, and the gun...

- Wasteland - The Mission.

ShadowSoldier on 29 March 2010

Wow....didn't even break even? I think it was one of a few factors.

1) A bad deal from Sony
2) Bad management of funds

I think multiplat is the way to go for these devs



Black Women Are The Most Beautiful Women On The Planet.

"In video game terms, RPGs are games that involve a form of separate battles taking place with a specialized battle system and the use of a system that increases your power through a form of points.

Sure, what you say is the definition, but the connotation of RPGs is what they are in video games." - dtewi

letsdance on 29 March 2010
Kasz216 said:
letsdance said:
Kasz216 said:
letsdance said:
Kasz216 said:
In fact... to prove my point...

http://news.filefront.com/actors-get-fat-paychecks-for-video-game-voice-work/

Note how there "fat paychecks" are half a million... and this is dealing with Patrick Stewart... a MUCH bigger name then Andy. Much more distinct voice as well.


"lend" =/= Play lead role. Sorry it doesnt support you at all

You can not believe it all you want... but all logic is against you here.

You really think they spent 30 million on two voice actors when they probably saw at most 20% of revenue for their games?

That means they would of had to of sold nearly 3 million copies to have broken even on the voice acting alone.


You sir are hilucinating. I'm done with you. And I know movies get paid more. Thats common sense. That wasn't in response to you either thus the "to jarrod" part.

I'm guessing your done with me because you know I'm correct and haven't even bothered to argue anything i've said.


No there is no point in arguing with someone who is as ill informed as you are. You type 5 words and you are already wrong.