GTA IV Steals Shenmue's title of Most Expensive Video Game to make

[Stocka]

In an recent artical with timesonline.co.uk, Leslie Benzies one of the leading Gran Theft Auto IV producers stated that he suspects the overal cost to create GTA IV was around the $100million mark.

Proof that Shenmue cost $70 million http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mmXVc...s.gamespy.com/

[duk]

another GTA4 thread!

[Stench]

another GTA4 thread!

you love it

[kenta]

And they'll make it all back before the sun rises tomorrow morning

[Glaciadluz]

Full first page for GTA IV soon

[Xater]

And they'll make it all back before the sun rises tomorrow morning

Unlike Shenmue.

[Visualante]

So basically $50 million.

[Ferrio]

Unlike Shenmue.

GTA4 has many qualities unlike Shenmue.

Good Voice Acting, enjoyable gameplay....

*runs*

[exarkun]

Unlike Shenmue.

Low Blow. I cant wait for Shenmue 3... I mean GTIV

[Windu]

And yet they will make that money back in a day.

[Jtyettis]

$100 million is some serious balling.

[J2 Cool]

Are you going to take this lying down Sega?

[Euphor!a]

Suspects? How does the producer not know how much it costs to make?

[Xater]

Low Blow. I cant wait for Shenmue 3... I mean GTIV

I should have added a sadly. I actually love Shenmue.

Let's get some comparisons going to Hollywood movies that cost the same.

[BeeDog]

What's the estimated cost for MGS4 then? Would be nice with a comparison.

[duckroll]

70 million dollar marketing budget confirmed.

[methane47]

lol shenmue cost 70 mil?

good game... but god that was a wasted investment

[biggkidd32]

Blazyr was right.

[Visualante]

70 million dollar marketing budget confirmed.

"Cost to create"

[Cardon]

What's the estimated cost for MGS4 then? Would be nice with a comparison.

Yeah thats what I was going to say. I have a feeling MGS4 may have cost a tad bit more.

[duckroll]

"Cost to create"

Cost to create sales. :)

[[Nintex]]

Inflation, Shenmue is still the most expensive game made.

good game... but god that was a wasted investment

Just like Naka's Ferrari and some other stupid shit (WHAT WERE THEY THINKING?)

[Xater]

Yeah thats what I was going to say. I have a feeling MGS4 may have cost a tad bit more.

I think it costs less. I don't want to know what they had to pay for the music licensing alone in GTA.

[camineet]

Shenmue was $70 million yeah, but that cost was EVERYTHING, development, marketing, and Shenmue II which was originally all one game.

[John Harker]

This would include ancillary costs like marketing, law suites, DLC development, sports cars, cristal, etc etc

[duckroll]

I think it costs less. I don't want to know what they have to pay for the music licensing alone.

Plus MGS4 is made in Japan. Japanese get paid jack shit.

[Jimmy Stav]

I never understood how Shenmue could have cost that much money to make.

While I loved it, I can't see where that 70 million went.

[LOcKY]

and people wonder why SEGA arent making Shemue 3.. however the money they are making with the wii titles its only just rewards they make it for the wii

and put the story to rest.. or at least write a graphic novel to put it to rest.

[RumFore]

What the shit? Shenmue cost $70 million to make? Hell Ocarina of Time on N64 and a bigger and better scope and it was a generation before it.

[Koshiro]

I never understood how Shenmue could have cost that much money to make.

The Saturn version burned some time and money (versions of both 1 and 2).

[PIMPBYBLUD]

So basically $50 million.

I see what you did there...

[Haunted]

I'd rather have Shenmue III than GTA IV. :(

[Guybrush Threepwood]

Will GTA IV have detailed areas that the player isn't even supposed to visit?

[Quazar]

I thought that title belonged to WoW?

[Nuclear Muffin]

I'm sorry, someone had to do it

[shaft]

Will GTA IV have detailed areas that the player isn't even supposed to visit?

You mean like able to walk into almost all the big buildings? that would be awesome-o

[Andokuky]

And unlike Shenmue, GTA 4 will actually be a good game.

[TTG]

It's too bad we don't have reliable sources of game budgets like we do with movies. I'd like to know what Halo 3 and Assassin's Creed cost. Then we have games like FF13, MGS and even Too Human...

[Leon S. Kennedy]

Too Human cost more

[J2 Cool]

Play through Shenmue 1 and 2 entirely, keep in mind they developed a chunk of Shenmue III, and you'll see just how big of a project Shenmue was. There's engines built on the Saturn, it did realtime weather back in 99, Shenmue 1 allowed you to interact with almost everything, every character in the game had his/her own daily schedule.

I'm sure personal opinion differs from poster to poster, but you can't say it wasn't massive in scale and scope. I think the game would have still gathered a bit of a following, if the Dreamcast didn't crash and burn. By itself it couldn't save it, but it could have been a semi-valuable franchise for any other system. If Sega was quick on it and smarter, they would have released Shenmue 1 again on PS2 like Capcom did with Code Veronica, and then followed with Shenmue 2 on PS2 as well. Not rereleasing Shenmue 1 at all was a big mistake.

[dyls]

I wonder if this number includes marketing or not. Movie studios generally leave it out of their stated production budget which is why something like "Superman Returns" which had a stated budget of around $250 million, may have cost more than $300 million all told.

[szaromir]

It's too bad we don't have reliable sources of game budgets like we do with movies. I'd like to know what Halo 3 and Assassin's Creed cost. Then we have games like FF13, MGS and even Too Human...

Halo 3 - over $30M
Rainbow 6 Vegas 1 - $25M
Call of Duty 2 - $14.5M
Gears of War - supposedly under $10M, but the engine R&D was not counted in.
Just off top of my head. If you dig around the Net you could probably find some other figures. Though indeed it's still not comparable with the movie industry.

[mileS]

So basically $50 million.

[diddlyD]

yu suzuki's salary was 20 million a year, that explains it

[ksamedi]

Shenmue 70 million? It sure doesn't play like a 70 million dollar game.

[Akinola]

lol shenmue cost 70 mil? good game... but god that was a wasted investment

SHUT YOUR MOUTH

I still believe in another Shenmue!

[YagizY]

GTA4 has many qualities unlike Shenmue. Good Voice Acting, enjoyable gameplay.... *runs*

QFT

[dyls]

And they'll make it all back before the sun rises tomorrow morning

revenue \= profit

[TTG]

Too Human cost more

I really doubt that. Some other games have the kind of dev. time GTAIV did, but you have to keep in mind there were 200-700 people on the project at different stages of development(think I read it in an interview). So while, say a game like Alan Wake will take as long(if not longer) to develop, it doesn't have nearly the same amount of people working on it.

I still think AC had to be VERY expensive to make. That and Halo 3 stand out to me the most out of the games released this gen.

I'm thinking we'll never see how much money MS is pouring into Rare and Lionhead, but they're both big studios that really haven't done much of anything yet this gen. Then there's Polyphony and Square in Japan...

[_leech_]

revenue \= profit

Two weeks?