I realized today how ridiculous is a budget of 500 million for a video game.

Bigdaddyx

500 million spent on something that people will play for few hours or days and then forget about.

Today India has become first country to successfully put a satellite into orbit around Mars at the very first attempt. And they did this for 74 million dollars. 74 million spent on something that would help us as species compared to 500 million spent on a video game... that contributes absolutely nothing. 

Just a thought i had while having my morning coffee.

Azaron_Nightblade

It's not that different from the movie industry, where the entertainment lasts an even shorter period of time.

Cod_Eye

The $500 mil has been taken out of context, a lot of that money was spent on advertising, India needs to sort its own affairs out before spending money on space exploration,  Its people need sanitation and water delivery points.

Bigdaddyx

Originally posted by Cod_Eye
The $500 mil has been taken out of context, a lot of that money was spent on advertising, India needs to sort its own affairs out before spending money on space exploration,  Its people need sanitation and water delivery points.

I think you also fell victim to the western media bias where they only show you the most backward and outskirt areas of India to give a picture that whole nation is suffering from  sanitation and water delivery problems.

In America 1 out of 5 children live in poverty and yet no one tells US to sort out its affairs first. 

Anyways, lets not get political. That is not what this topic is about.

Bladestrom

You could apply that arguement to any spending that is made by any country. Point stands 500 million on a game is ludicrous.

alkarionlog

Originally posted by Bladestrom
You could apply that arguement to any spending that is made by any country. Point stands 500 million on a game is ludicrous.

with is funny since most poeple will say they need to make money and its tehy money to spend and its also pays the devs who was working and so on and on.

 

thing is they did spend 500M on a game? can bet you they will profit over it at least 250M, also this game have too many marketing on it, so much I feel like the game IS NOT GOOD, and from what I heard this game is a bordelands game with a pitch of halo but with less loot.

 

then again I don't care, its a console game and only thing I feel like playing in console are fighting games or RPGs, and even so there is not that many GOOD rpgs anymore to play

Telil

hasn't it already sold enough units to pay for itself already? that's what I read on this same site.

500m isn't abnormal these days really. A lot of games are hitting 300+.

BadOrb

500 mil for 15 years of work and 3 games is quite a lot but not as much as 500 mil for one game.

 

Cheers,

 

BadOrb.

Kaladin

Maybe I'm naïve, but I don't see how a satellite around Mars will benefit humanity.  But either way, how much money somebody else is willing to risk in order to build a video game is of zero concern to me.

Cod_Eye

Originally posted by Bigdaddyx

Originally posted by Cod_Eye
The $500 mil has been taken out of context, a lot of that money was spent on advertising, India needs to sort its own affairs out before spending money on space exploration,  Its people need sanitation and water delivery points.

I think you also fell victim to the western media bias where they only show you the most backward and outskirt areas of India to give a picture that whole nation is suffering from  sanitation and water delivery problems.

In America 1 out of 5 children live in poverty and yet no one tells US to sort out its affairs first. 

Anyways, lets not get political. That is not what this topic is about.

Indian women getting brutally raped and hung while they go to a field in the middle of the night to relieve themselves because its safer than going in daylight, is in your opinion western media bias, maybe you like to tell their families that, idiot.

mgilbrtsn

It's only ridiculous if they lose money.

Chrisbox

Lol it surely wasn't spent on the game.  This game lacks so much content.  It probably all went towards all the advertising and peter dink's voice.  

Bigdaddyx

Originally posted by Cod_Eye

Originally posted by Bigdaddyx

Originally posted by Cod_Eye
The $500 mil has been taken out of context, a lot of that money was spent on advertising, India needs to sort its own affairs out before spending money on space exploration,  Its people need sanitation and water delivery points.

I think you also fell victim to the western media bias where they only show you the most backward and outskirt areas of India to give a picture that whole nation is suffering from  sanitation and water delivery problems.

In America 1 out of 5 children live in poverty and yet no one tells US to sort out its affairs first. 

Anyways, lets not get political. That is not what this topic is about.

Indian women getting brutally raped and hung while they go to a field in the middle of the night to relieve themselves because its saver than going in daylight, is in your opinion western media bias, maybe you like to tell their families that, idiot.

I guess you don't understand when i said politely 'lets not make this political'?

Show me one country which doesn't have its set of problems? now stop dragging this off topic.  Telling other countries to sort out their mess when your own has its priority all wrong just makes you look like a hypocrite. Your flame bait isn't going to work on me

Bladestrom

And American governments allow lobbying for guns when chdren are being murdered and also has a major problem with poverty, debt, corruption, murder per capita and so on and do forth - that does not mean NASA should shut up shop - we need scientific progress to survive as a species.

Bigdaddyx

Originally posted by Bladestrom
And American governments allow lobbying for guns when chdren are being murdered and also has a major problem with poverty, debt, corruption, murder per capita and so on and do forth - that does not mean NASA should shut up shop - we need scientific progress to survive as a species.

Thanks for common sense.

Alumicard

As I understand it the 500 mio that gets thrown around are for 3 games and not just the one. Don't ask me where I read that but I read it somewhere.

 

But the point still stands that 160ish mio for a game is a huge amount but on the other side the entertainment industry invests sums/pays salaries that a crazy. Nowadays 300 mio for a movie isnt uncommon and even TV shows pay 1mio per EPISODE! for ONE actor. First it was Kutcher (two and a half men) and now it is more or less the entire cast of "the big gang theory" who gets 1mio each per episode.

 

But damn those pirates! They kill the industry! 

Agent_Joseph

millions cant help to make good game but can help to make great promotions

CrazKanuk

Ok, ok,ok. It's actually not all that ridiculous apart from the size of the transaction, right? Think of it at a smaller level. If I walked up to you on the street and said, "Hey! I see you have a $1 bill there! Would you trade it for $2?" Ummmmmmm, duh! Of course!!! 

 

Obviously there are inherent risks associated with that small transaction, even. As the transaction grows, as do the risks. However, let's say that I offered you $1.01 for $1, that's still a good deal! So unless Destiny flopped, it's basically a slam dunk, right? I mean I'm sure there were a lot of asterisks at the bottom of the document, but ultimately if Destiny didn't clear $200 million (lifetime), I would have propelled myself into orbit by shooting rainbows out of my ass. So even if it fell short of estimates, I'm sure that Activision had everything in place to pull back on their investment and, essentially, cancel any further releases. 

Nadia

Originally posted by Alumicard

the point still stands that 160ish mio for a game is a huge amount

but on the other side the entertainment industry invests sums/pays salaries that a crazy. Nowadays 300 mio for a movie isnt uncommon and even TV shows pay 1mio per EPISODE! for ONE actor. First it was Kutcher (two and a half men) and now it is more or less the entire cast of "the big gang theory" who gets 1mio each per episode.

true and videogames can be more profitable

 

article from 5 years ago

Videogames now outperform Hollywood movies

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/gamesblog/2009/sep/27/videogames-hollywood

Perhaps the biggest global headlines of all were made in 2008 by a British-produced game, Grand Theft Auto IV, which on 29 April took the title of the most successful entertainment release in history. Within 24 hours, GTA IV had grossed $310m (£157m) – comfortably more than history's most successful book (Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows, at $220m in 24 hours) and its most successful film (Spider-Man 3 at $117m).

..

These are not only gamers or computer programmers: television producers, writers, actors, directors, musicians, even performance artists are flocking towards the medium. In 2008, for instance, Steven Spielberg was credited as lead designer on a game, Boom Blox, for the Nintendo Wii. This wasn't just a title he had been paid to dignify with his name; it was a game he had devised himself from first principles, and that was aimed at creating an interactive version of the kind of cinematic space he made his own – somewhere where parents and children come together to share a creative experience.

laserit

Before I would make a judgment on whether a budget of 500 million for a game is ridiculous or not, I would need a few facts.

 

The most important being:

 

How many people were employed and for how long for that 500 million.

DamonVile

Originally posted by Bladestrom
And American governments allow lobbying for guns when chdren are being murdered and also has a major problem with poverty, debt, corruption, murder per capita and so on and do forth - that does not mean NASA should shut up shop - we need scientific progress to survive as a species.

Considering we live like we have another planet to go to once we've used this one up...yeah we probably should actually look for one.

Nightbringe1

Originally posted by Cod_Eye

Indian women getting brutally raped and hung while they go to a field in the middle of the night to relieve themselves because its safer than going in daylight, is in your opinion western media bias, maybe you like to tell their families that, idiot.

Kids being shot on the street in broad daylight for their shoes is equally serious.

That was Washington DC, two years ago, right down the street from where I was living.

Oberholzer

Originally posted by Bigdaddyx

500 million spent on something that people will play for few hours or days and then forget about.

Today India has become first country to successfully put a satellite into orbit around Mars at the very first attempt. And they did this for 74 million dollars. 74 million spent on something that would help us as species compared to 500 million spent on a video game... that contributes absolutely nothing. 

Just a thought i had while having my morning coffee.

Great, with costs like that the U.S. will probably outsource their satellites to India now.

Boneserino

I think that a million dollars today, just isn't what some of us older folk imagine it was 25 years ago.   Back then it seemed an almost unattainable goal for the average person.

Now people with middle income jobs who are childless, can generally become millionaires fairly quickly these days.   And your average large 5 bedroom home with a pool on a small lot will run you about a million now too. Ten luxury cars and you burn close to a miilion.   Truth is, it seems a million just doesn't  go as far as it used to.   

On top of that, cost of living for everything seems to be rising almost exponentially now.   Its no wonder, costs on these mega MMO's seem to spiral out of control.

 

Just ask Curt, right?

DamonVile

I don't spend all my free time or money on solving the worlds problems, so I don't expect a game maker to do it either. Holding them to the same standared we hold a government isn't really fair. They're in business to make money not feed starving children.

Spending 500 million to make more is how business works. They are just on a totally different scale than what most are used to.

MMOExposed

This just shows how much more expensive digital is than its physical counterpart.