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Forums - Sony - Uncharted's budget was...

Kasz216 on 22 February 2008
HappySqurriel said:
Diomedes1976 said:
Well heres some useful info :

The software available for any console is crucial to its success. According to a report on the Bloomberg news service, developers may be thinking carefully about making games for the PlayStation 3 because of the number of sales required to put the projects in the black. Namco Bandai Holdings Inc. president Takeo Takasu has said in an interview that PS3 games must be a mass-market success. Games for the next-generation console cost an average of $8.6 million to create .


So ,8.6 million for a PS3 game .Then we have Killzone 2 with its 21 million budget of course .

I think Uncharted costed 10-12 million and it was marketed with some 8 million .Its marketing was far less apparent than Gears one year before .

Once again, you're trying to use 1 data point to generalize across a very wide spectrum of games ...

The "Average" price a lot of these developers cite include their licenced low budget games which are often shovelware. Take 2's average would include games like Dora the Explorer, Celebrity Death Match, Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, and Grand Theft Auto 4; if they came to an average of $10 Million across all these games it is far more likely that GTA would take $30 Million with the other four splitting $10 Million.


 Don't foget PSN games...



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fkusumot on 22 February 2008
Bodhesatva said:
He said Bloomberg, but I can't find it if so.

 Here's a link: http://www.gamesindustry.biz/content_page.php?aid=10815



I Blame Wii Fit!

HappySqurriel on 22 February 2008
Diomedes1976 said:
Well ,I did some google searchs with the words development ,budget and the name of one console and found lots of things .Few had a lot of numbers to compare sadly .The Playstation 2 number is an average with no less that 194 games so I think its quite accurate .

But without knowing what games made up the average it is meaningless ...

The PS2 had far more shovelware games than any other system in recent history; if the 192 games includes games like Solitare, Poker, Gingerbread Man, and the 2D classic arcade games that were available for the PS2 it would not be representative of the types of games most people associate with the PS2.



Kasz216 on 22 February 2008

Here's a link from the BBC saying that the average HD game costs 15 Million. How can they have different numbers?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7151961.stm

Well at least Diomedes isn't just making stuff up like he usually does.



flagship on 22 February 2008

Expensive, however sequels should help make it a profitable series.

Which seems to be the way developers are going this gen., spend a large amount developing an engine and series then churn out sequels every 1-2 years.



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misterd on 22 February 2008
Could it be we’re missing the important point here?

It’s not about Uncharted. It’s about everything else.

Let’s assume that the OP is correct – Uncharted cost “only” $20m to develop, start to finish. He claims that’s pretty cheap. OK, let’s forget whether  that is or is not cheap, and by what definition of cheap you use. Let’s just say that he’s right – this is game is a relative bargain for the PS3.

Now, the sales are around 1m, at $60 a piece. Assuming that the developer and publisher gets between $20-30 per game, that would mean Uncharted will net them between $0 to $10,000,000 in profit. Then, by the OPs estimate, this successful game, a supposed bargain for the developer, nets, at best, half the money needed to develop another game.

Is this a successful business model? And what of the dozens of other games that never come close to sniffing 7 figures in sales? How many developers will look at Uncharted, an unqualified critical and commercial success, and see that profit margin and think that the PS3 is a good platform to develop for?



Zero Hero on 22 February 2008
flagship said:
Expensive, however sequels should help make it a profitable series.

Which seems to be the way developers are going this gen., spend a large amount developing an engine and series then churn out sequels every 1-2 years.

 Exactly! It shows since we see more sequels than new IPs thes days. It's cheaper to upgrade assets to a game and release a sequel.



So what do you win if your prefered console sells more than another?

Zero Hero on 22 February 2008

Misterd,

Are you assuming that Uncharted's sales are done as of today? It was a first year PS3 title. Uncharted will hit at least 5M lifetime total. And even at reduced prices due to "Greatest Hits" status, it was investment worth making. Devs know when they have a great game or not. Releasing bad games is more due to deadlines than the "We can do no more with it" attitude.



So what do you win if your prefered console sells more than another?

HappySqurriel on 22 February 2008
Zero Hero said:
Misterd,

Are you assuming that Uncharted's sales are done as of today? It was a first year PS3 title. Uncharted will hit at least 5M lifetime total. And even at reduced prices due to "Greatest Hits" status, it was investment worth making. Devs know when they have a great game or not. Releasing bad games is more due to deadlines than the "We can do no more with it" attitude.

Besides the (obvious) unusual cases (like Brain Training) can you name a single game that sold more than 50% of its total sales after it had been on the market for 6 Months without being bundled?

Certainly, if it was a focus of Sony to build a brand and they pushed it hard I could see Uncharted passing 2 Million units but making a claim like 5 Million seems insane given its current performance. Basically, it is about as likely for Metroid Prime 3 to pass 10 Million as it is for Uncharted to pass 5 Million.



misterd on 22 February 2008
Zero Hero said:
Misterd,

Are you assuming that Uncharted's sales are done as of today? It was a first year PS3 title. Uncharted will hit at least 5M lifetime total. And even at reduced prices due to "Greatest Hits" status, it was investment worth making. Devs know when they have a great game or not. Releasing bad games is more due to deadlines than the "We can do no more with it" attitude.

That misses the point I'm making. 90% or more of the games that will be released for any console will never reach Uncharted's present sales figures. I think that makes $15-20m budgets very risky. And even big titles like MGS4 - that's supposed to be hitting $40m, and maybe more when advertising is factored in. That could mean having to sell 2m copies just to make back what was spent. Given the diminished Sony user base, I would think even established franchises may be taking a big gamble.