Well I just bought a copy. What's really sad are the people pirating this bundle... f'ing pathetic.

I think it is safe to say blizzard can use money as toilet roll really. In fact I bet they got pretty sick of using money as BBQ fuel.

Hellbinder wrote on May 9, 2010, 11:26:
Tron You are a cluelesss fool. It does not cost *any* game company anwyhere near 300 million to make a game. *any* game. Maybe 50 million and that is on the really wastfull over staffed mmo's that take 4 years to develope.

http://kotaku.com/5479819

Out of the 10 most expensive games listed there, all but 2 are $50 million or higher (on up to $100 million). I don't think it includes things like MMOs, for instance, I'm sure blizzard has spend more on WoW than $100 million by now.

Of that, it looks like they might be including the platform license fees for the copies of the game available at launch, but yeah... it's a staggering amount nonetheless.

However, a marketing budget in the eight- to nine-figure range also indicates a pretty good idea on what the game is going to sell. Yes, it means you have to sell a large number, but even if MW2 sold half what it did, it would've been profitable for Activision. If a game lacks that sort of sales potential, then they don't market as heavily. Not everything has to be a $200M major-studio behemoth or a $200K indie title. There's a large range in the middle that would lend itself to varying pricing strategies, rollout plans, and marketing approaches.

killer_roach wrote on May 9, 2010, 12:01:
There is no promotional budget for a game that even approaches $100 million, let alone $300 million as was previously alluded to

I was including marketing and development. And I'm not as entirely "clueless" as Hellbinder likes to think.

CoD:MW2 cost $200 million

That's still a huge chunk of change.

(besides, the revenue to date from MW2 exceeds $1 billion, making even the ludicrous numbers a moot point).

It's not a moot point, because big publisher game budgets are spiralling out of control these days. Meaning they have to make absurd profits in order to be considered successful. Meanwhile indie titles can continue to take risks, instead of churning out CoD X year after year.

Overon wrote on May 9, 2010, 11:39:
Oh Hellbinder, it all depends on what you mean by "make a game." There is more than just writing the code and creating the art to "making a game."

There is no promotional budget for a game that even approaches $100 million, let alone $300 million as was previously alluded to (besides, the revenue to date from MW2 exceeds $1 billion, making even the ludicrous numbers a moot point). That being said, some of that involves thinking outside the box and offloading the more expensive parts of your ad budget (network TV ad buys) to your corporate partners (in the MW2 case, that would be Wal-Mart, Best Buy, and Microsoft), and spend money on relatively inexpensive, highly targeted cable TV ad buys.

Microsoft reportedly spent $80 million on their Halo 3 ad blitz, which, as far as anyone knows, is the largest promotional budget for any game to date. Considering what the revenue of that game has been so far, I don't think anyone can argue that they got far more than their money's worth.

Finally, I know I've largely been discussing promo budgets for the biggest of the big blockbusters, but that's for a reason; pretty much anything less isn't advertised on TV at all, making their promotional budgets mere peanuts in comparison.

they just added a 6th game to the bundle: http://www.wolfire.com/

Oh Hellbinder, it all depends on what you mean by "make a game." There is more than just writing the code and creating the art to "making a game."

Tron You are a cluelesss fool. It does not cost *any* game company anwyhere near 300 million to make a game. *any* game. Maybe 50 million and that is on the really wastfull over staffed mmo's that take 4 years to develope.

Wow! I'm very happy for them! That's really amazing.

I am glad this is working out for them though, it was still a big gamble to put their (primary) games on the line like this

btw what the movie shows is not what order page shows now, so I doubt they will release the source.

This comment was edited on May 9, 2010, 01:35.

Ruffiana wrote on May 8, 2010, 15:42:
Yeah, why strive for making $310 million in the first 24 hours when you could be making $500k in a half a week or so. Idiots!

And how much did a company like Activision have to spend on development and marketing in order to make that $310 million? They're lucky if they broke even that day. Meanwhile, even at $500K (less the donations) these guys made a tidy profit.

It's swell and all if you make a shit-ton of money, but not if you have to spend a shit-ton to get there. The ROI these indie titles are getting is just as good, if not better, than mainstream ones.

So about 350,000 going to the indie developers, that works out to $70,000 each. I don't care how many people downloaded the games: that is SEVENTY THOUSAND DOLLARS for an INDIE studio. That's a serious chunk of change to a small company! And on top of that they get free advertising not only for this promotion but from the quality of these titles future games as well! Activision may look at something like this and scoff but these indie studios are in a different boat: this is a successful promotion for them!

Edit: And Penumbra Overture in particular -> Overture is part one of a three part story so if people like it they have reason to buy the other two parts which are not included in this promotion.

Separately the games are all worth $80, but the average price people bought them for... $10. That sure is humbling!

Cutter wrote on May 8, 2010, 18:27:

Yeah and Activision and Infinity Ward did what for charity with that? Oh right, nothing.

http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=226945

Yes, it was for publicity. So is this humble bundle.

I'm just glad they did ok with this.

Yeah, why strive for making $310 million in the first 24 hours when you could be making $500k in a half a week or so. Idiots!

Yeah and Activision and Infinity Ward did what for charity with that? Oh right, nothing. Activision even went so far as to fuck its own employees over, destroy a company and start a lawsuit over it. Yeah, I can see where the comparison is valid.

Of course they do, b/c they still have the $400 that they didn't use to buy Windows Ultimate.

This is what PC gaming is about, great fun games, no DRM, and giving.

$500.000 in half-week... That should send a message to commercial publishers if they weren't too dumb to actually listen to it.

Yeah, why strive for making $310 million in the first 24 hours when you could be making $500k in a half a week or so. Idiots!

ASeven wrote on May 8, 2010, 14:57:
My point was more on the abstract notion of choice and on the specific notion of fun and no DRM, not on making the publishers follow this model exactly.

Not entirely sure I'd call "fun" a specific, but I understand what you're trying to say, even if I'm not in full agreement. (I'll spare you the whole long-winded exegesis this time, though.)