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Elder Scrolls Online 300M$ budget?
eqfanaatikko
Member Posts: 33
This is old news I guess new for me and maybe some others, but WTF 300 million dollars for an MMO?
I find it absurd.. they can't be for real? Here's the article..
http://mmorpg.qj.net/Pete-Hines-makes-Elder-Scrolls-MMORPG-official/pg/49/aid/107199
If one would believe in the power of money one would think that's going to make one insanely good MMO.
With Blizzard working on it's new secret MMO and this.. It's going to be interesting years ahead of us I imagine. 
Galactic amounts of hype, fanboi vs troll wars headed our way! Be prepared! 
Comments
Most likley the dollar ammount is a culmination of money invested in previous "Elder Scrolls" games as well as the aquisition cost of ZeniMAX studios. Saying 300 has already been invested is a very vauge statment, which could also imply the fee for paying employee's during development. It's not to say they have 300m sitting in a bank ready to spend on the game.
Most AAA title MMO's cost about 20-30 mill to make. Given a four year dev cycle on average. Some MMO's may cost more, although the majority cost under 20mill to make.
Arioc Murkwood
Environment Artist
Sad but true.
The news is new to me, and if it's released, I might as well try is, since I think bethesda has done a very good job on Eldar Scrolls...
About the 300M US$ budget... It's a realistic (if not low) budget. My guess is that they;ll use the ES4 engine, so no development there, and then you can make a very good game.
As a reference. The early Lineage III development (before a couple of developers walked out of it and took the code) costed NCsoft around 1 billion US$ (lineage3.wordpress.com/2007/04/30/the-interruption-of-lineage-3-development-part-2/), while the development so fat only was the new engine and the world...
Ten Ton Hammer put out a timely aricle
http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/61590
Is this serious?
"Bethesda has already invested a whopping US$ 300 million into the project"
This articale talks about the elder scrolls online project. If he meant that it was invested into the series he would have said so.. but instead he talks about the project.
I don't know.. but I hope it's true. I did enjoy the series..
Seamless worlds FTW!
Hopefully lots of quality storytelling and lore..
FPS style combat!
Lot's of freedom!
I hope they throw full PVP in the mix then it's going to be perfect!
I just hope that one of these games gives players a world and not "parts-to-play" in a linear story. I just shake my head when I see some huge franchise that forces players to endure linear, story-telling gameplay.
i will comment before i read it lol.I find it hard to believe with the current credit crunch,some firm is willing to lend them that kind of cash.I know banks have been turning everyone down that is a risk and gaming is a big risk.
I cannot even imagine where that number came from ,a few million to license ue3 and one/two years of work,does not add up to 300 million lol.Let's do some simple math 100 employees[that's a lot for them]2 yrsx50k each?10 mil?lease a studio/building,they already have the studios,but still a cost of what?200k?Cost to produce the discs and publish it who knows ,but nothing more than a couple mil tops.The big guys usually carry salaries around the 200k-2mil mark,maybe 5-8 guys in that range?
where is the other 275 million going? lmao..luncheons at the playboy mansion?dinner with the president?Hunting border crossings withTed Nugent?lol [couldn't help myself there]
I know they could spend a lot of outsourcing ,like Clemens hiring the DC comics guy for his game,but still that number of 300 mil,without question is to stir up hype.Ok i will read the article and probably laugh at it,but will see.Probably be like that guy posting a top game sales list that is shown by every site and is the same list all by one[NPD] group and no proof ever delivered in it.
Never forget 3 mile Island and never trust a government official or company spokesman.
Ok back lmao,yep as i thought ,a little trickery in that post.
If you read it VERY carefully,it is in reality 300mil invested,but not actually spent.They are allowing that much for the "Project"but if you read on ,they talk about the additional resources to be used for other projects and things outside of that one game.
I think in reality,what they are saying is that they have set aside that amount as there over all structuring cost in there next wave of gaming projects and publishing and so on.I did not get the impression reading that the game itself will cost them 300 mil.
Why they are outsourcing is beyond me,no confidence in themselves?i really have never dug deep into Bethesda,i do know of them from WAY back,i only assume they have made their own games,perhaps they always outsource IDK,maybe they are just a publisher?
Never forget 3 mile Island and never trust a government official or company spokesman.
Wow, a mainstream MMORPG I am actually interested in. And possibly the "real WoW killer" since Elder Scrolls has huge fanbase.
Lets just hope they stay true to the Elder Scrolls games that came before.
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credit crunch doesnt exist for most video game developers.
People aren't traveling, so the leftover money they are using to buy electronics.
after 6 or so years, I had to change it a little...
GTA IV was 100 mill.
Just to put things in perspective.
So 300 mill for a Top class MMO sounds about right.
Anything lower than that is low budget at this point.
Whether the prices are accurate statements or even just being misunderstood, it doesn't matter. Either way, I'm excited for this game. The fact that there is a lot of money involved (in whatever way it is) is only a stimulator to my thoughts; it makes me think the game will actually end up a polished, well done product. Sounds good to me, and I'm going to try this game (in however many years) no matter what.
I think its worthy to note that one thing that sets Bethesda apart from some of the more recent MMO releasers is one special similarity with Blizzard:
Both companies worked on easier projects first: Single and multiplayer games, and gained huge success and lots of experience with their franchises first before moving into the online market.
If more companies did this, we would have better online games available to us now instead of neverending conveyer-belts of poo.
dang 300 mil is still alot of money to me. i hope that they can make this great i always thought the eldar scrolls games were alot of fun. i hope they can pull it off
Its not for elder scrolls,
Bethesda is about to get the rights to make a Fallout MMO in April.
The 300 mil number is what that website author said,there is no 300 mil confirmed and where it is being spent.
The best part is when they go on to say they will be hiring Zenimax studios to do the game,RFLMAO,Zenimax IS bethesda ,i mean geesh how low can you go.
BTW do you know who pete hines is ,the guy said to be interviewed?he is the MARKETING chief for Bethesda lol,yep the guy paid to hype up the game..need i say more.
Someone mentioned about games learning ,coming up by making small games first.Well in most cases the original minds behind those games are long gone from the companies,so that holds no merit at all.This is the case in EQ also the case in WOW and MANY other games,as is the case here in Bethesda,because it was made VERY clear,the original owner made ALL the decisions...ONE MIND.,now gone.
The guy who started Bethesda was in joint colaboration starting up Zenimax,then i believe the power struggle happened and they fired that guy.It is nice how they mention they wanted everyone to have input in the operation,yet one name sits atop both operations lmao.I think this whole operation is your typical big corporation swindling money around over several operations until it meets their accounting books in a positive fashion.BTW someone mentioned GTA4 costing 100 million,funny Bethesda also happens to have a working deal with take -two.Nice maybe developers have learned something from Blizzard,post up large numbers and it creates hype.BTW now we are on that subject,the actual developer said they had no clue of the actual cost,they only guessed at it because they said about 1,000 people had a hand in it,that again can be VERY misleading as to cost and over all money going around.
In that article it states that Bethesda has invested in the online group[Zenimax][themselves lmao]it says nothing about the investment being all towards there MMORPG.They keep trying to make it sound like there is different operations going on here,but it is all the same people,very sketchy wording here.
That 3 mil number is not what the game will cost,it is merely a number disguised to create hype for the game,it is merely one part of their corporation sending money to the other part of their corporation calling it an investment into gaming lmao,then some site blogger says it is a 3 million dollar game,far from the truth.
I also just finished reading some posts of a guy who worked at Bethesda,he says that developers do not get paid much at all for the developement of a game,so putting a tag of 300 million is unrealistic,the game would have to bring in a ton of money to make a profit from there small claim of the sales.BTW he says that Bethesda typically uses around 75 people on a game[now],witch is more than they used when he worked there apparently.So not an overly large staff,if you check their present status ,they are hiring a few new people but nothing major,so i don't see them adding to that 75 number.
Never forget 3 mile Island and never trust a government official or company spokesman.
If this is true, WoW finally has some serious competition.
I absolutely adored Morrowind - one of the most amazing games ever made. If this could somehow be converted into an MMORPG...
I will never leave the house again.
Still waiting for your Holy Grail MMORPG? Interesting...
As far as I know, the biggest MMORPG budget to date is Tabula Rasa with a price tag just over 100 million. 300 million sounds unreasonable, even for a AAA MMORPG title.
Like we say on jsut about every MMO, "where does that money go????" 300 million for a game just sounds ridiculous, especially when so little is known at this point.......WHile I would certainly be interested in an Elder Scrolls type MMO I just cant fathom them spending that kind of money and expecting to make a profit anytime soon........It would be interesting to see what kind of player base they need to attain to ever see a profit.......If I was Bethesda I think I'd just play it safe and make anotehr Elder Scolls single player game...... You know that will be successful.
If this pans out to be true, or even anywhere near this, I hope they use some of that money to pay for more voice actors than they bothered to in Oblivion.
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Forgot interplays shot was almost up.
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That's the thing... if this is accurate then the title of this thread is not.
$300 million already invested into the project already does NOT equal development cost.. since its still in development.
So one would have to wonder if it was accurate.. what the cost will be by the time they are done...
Bethesda is not a publisher. They are the developer of many singleplayer games, including the Elder scrolls series, Fallout 3, a bunch of Star Trek games, and some other lesser known titles.
But I agree that the game itself will not cost $300 million. However, the planning, resources, servers, etc., etc, could easily eat up $300 million if they plan to have the mmorpg the same structure as the singleplayer franchise with one seamless world and total freedom.
That's the thing... if this is accurate then the title of this thread is not.
$300 million already invested into the project already does NOT equal development cost.. since its still in development.
So one would have to wonder if it was accurate.. what the cost will be by the time they are done...
Or maybe most of it is already developed. I don't think it's a stretch. If I were an MMO company, I would wait until most of the features are in until I announce to the public that we're making an MMO.
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Guys! I'm hopelessly lost in a mountain of mole hills! Them damn moles!
Forgot interplays shot was almost up.
I hope so. I'd much rather see Bethesda handle it before Interplay. Interplays' fame is over, and when (if) they lose the last vestige of the Fallout franchise remaining to them, they're over and done.