By using this site, you agree to our Privacy Policy and our Terms of Use. Close

Forums - Sales - Grand Theft Auto IV... 100 million spent? (Cost of GTAIV)

twesterm on 30 April 2008
disolitude said:
twesterm said:
That $100million number actually sounds too low.

It sounds high at first but take into account the game took 4 years to make and they say that they had a 100 person team (yet they have 74 artists and at least as many designers and programmers so more than 100).

So assuming that the $100million is just employee's salary then that means each employee there makes $25k/year which is way too low. The average up there is probably pretty close to California so that number should be around $50k/year (very light assumption there).

That means with 100 employee's the game should have spent $200million in salaries alone. Throw in the insane advertising campaign, overhead, and everything else and that number gets even higher.

Yeah but i'm sure those employees worked on other games as well...manhnt 2, Rockstar table tennis, bully...its not just GTA4 right.


 GTA took 4 years to create and 100 people is probably about the right size since you have to account for people leaving and coming into the project at various times.  I forgot to account for people coming and leaving and working cross projects when I first wrote that and said there were probably more.  

Still though, 100 people working for four years where the cost of living is fairly high the cost should be higher than $100 million. 



 

Around the Network
twesterm on 30 April 2008
TheBigFatJ said:

MGS wouldn't have nearly GTA 4's budget, because they don't anticipate nearly GTA 4's sales. Not nearly, not ever.


So assuming that the $100million is just employee's salary then that means each employee there makes $25k/year which is way too low. The average up there is probably pretty close to California so that number should be around $50k/year (very light assumption there).

100 million divided by 100 employees is a million. Divide that by four, and you get 250,000. Not 25,000. I'm not saying there aren't other costs, i'm just pointing out that your math was wrong by a factor of 10.

Take 2 claimed their team size was about 125.


 Whoops, I was going by this article that put the number at 1000 and then starting reading something else that said about 100 after I did the math and the 100 stuck in my head.  >_>



 

disolitude on 30 April 2008
FishyJoe said:
I bet a good chunk goes to music licensing. GTA licenses the real songs, not knock offs like most of Guitar Hero.

This is true, but thus far I have yet to hear one big song in the game. They do not license the major hits like Guitar Hero...so I assume its a lot cheaper.



FishyJoe on 30 April 2008

Maybe they wound up paying through the nose for Vice City, because that game had lots of big name artists.



rudyrsr8 on 30 April 2008

Well If you know your game is gonna sell over 3M instanely then why not work on it and spend all the money to make sure it was an awesome game?



"Like you know"

Around the Network
Viper1 on 30 April 2008
FishyJoe said:
Maybe they wound up paying through the nose for Vice City, because that game had lots of big name artists.

 Scarface also had over 100 licensed tracks but I don't know of its development budget.



The rEVOLution is not being televised

Christopher_G2 on 30 April 2008

You can make a $100 million game when it virtually gauranteed to sell 15 million units world wide (more likely it will be over 20 million when all is said and done). That's not something that can be said about Final Fantasy, Metal Gear Solid, or a Zelda game. They couldn't come close. Only Halo, Mario and Smash Bros are console series that could afford such a budget (though we'll see with WiiFit, which probably didn't cost a tenth of what GTA IV cost to make).



rocketpig on 30 April 2008
FishyJoe said:
Maybe they wound up paying through the nose for Vice City, because that game had lots of big name artists.

From my experience with the game, Rockstar went back to its GTA III roots with IV, which is a good thing IMO. GTA III didn't have any popular songs in it.




Or check out my new webcomic: http://selfcentent.com/

FishyJoe on 30 April 2008
Viper1 said:
FishyJoe said:
Maybe they wound up paying through the nose for Vice City, because that game had lots of big name artists.

Scarface also had over 100 licensed tracks but I don't know of its development budget.


I don't think the music impacts the development budget. Usually royalties are paid out based on sales. So for each song, a certain amount must be paid per unit sale.