oh well when you put it that way it looks like Bungie just lost a sale
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Halo 4 Has Cost Microsoft More Money Than Any Title To Date
- Thread starter Vire
- Start date
oh well when you put it that way it looks like Bungie just lost a sale
-tetsuo-
Unlimited Capacity
Cmon, son
REMEMBER CITADEL
Banned
I very much doubt that the reviews will address that, because for most reviewers - and people in general - the issue wasn't there in the first place.
The thread's been quite entertaining to read, few franchises bring out the salt as well as Halo does. For what it's worth, Halo 4 will probably be one of the very few games I buy at full price.
And still the best looking / spectacular game this generation imho almost three years later.
Anyways, it cost $44 million to be exact: http://www.joystiq.com/2010/03/09/god-of-war-3-has-44-million-dollar-budget/
Same article also confirms GT5 costing $60 million and Bioshock $15 million.
Firstly let's assume the figures have been adjusted for inflation.
Secondly I'm not at all surprised. I'd consider this their most important game since Halo:CE, since it's clearly a key part of their strategy for moving the 360 userbase to Xbox 3. (For that reason I think we can expect a cliffhanger ending.)
It's going to be a great game though, I have no doubt about that.
Secondly I'm not at all surprised. I'd consider this their most important game since Halo:CE, since it's clearly a key part of their strategy for moving the 360 userbase to Xbox 3. (For that reason I think we can expect a cliffhanger ending.)
It's going to be a great game though, I have no doubt about that.
MrCookiepants
Member
GT5 made back its budget before it was even released, and then some (Prologue sold 5 million copies).
AltogetherAndrews
Member
This god damned "COD-something" ape method of argument needs to jump in tar and never resurface. Borrowing smart things from successful games and fusing them to your own format is evolution at its finest. Sure, sometimes it goes too far and the additions corrupt or shadow the original format, but nothing here makes it appear as such.
Monocle
Member
Unsurprising, considering the outrageous volume of top-level talent they hired for 343 Industries, not to mention the technical wizardry that the team has pulled off. You don't get that kind of bang without some serious buck. And then there's the Forward Unto Dawn series, whose cost I assume is factored into Halo 4's overall budget.
Whether Halo's core identity has been lost amid all the sparkle is too early to say. I'm skeptical about this game for all sorts of reasons (inadequate customizability for things like the HUD and auto flag pickup, for one), but hey, it looks great from a technical perspective and the core gameplay appears to be largely intact. My main concern is whether the campaign rivals Halo 3's, at worst. If the game clears that bar, I'll be happy.
Whether Halo's core identity has been lost amid all the sparkle is too early to say. I'm skeptical about this game for all sorts of reasons (inadequate customizability for things like the HUD and auto flag pickup, for one), but hey, it looks great from a technical perspective and the core gameplay appears to be largely intact. My main concern is whether the campaign rivals Halo 3's, at worst. If the game clears that bar, I'll be happy.
I thought FUD only cost 2.5 million?
Monocle
Member
I have no idea. I figure its budget is part of the (presumably) giant katamari of cash money set aside for Halo 4's marketing campaign. I can see how it might be a drop in the bucket compared to some of the project's other expenses, I suppose. Frankie's Game Fuel stash won't just magically replenish itself.
SkyMasterson
Member
Halo 4 does look incredible visually and hopefully it'll be a polished, well made game to match.
I just wanted to point out how stupid the actual article is(joystiq lol).
They're like, Halo 4 was expensive. Halo 3 cost around 60 mil, 30 mil of it was marketing. While ODST brought in over $170 million in 24 hours. Halo is a 3 billion dollar franchise.
At least give me estimated budgets for each game. Lazy!
I just wanted to point out how stupid the actual article is(joystiq lol).
They're like, Halo 4 was expensive. Halo 3 cost around 60 mil, 30 mil of it was marketing. While ODST brought in over $170 million in 24 hours. Halo is a 3 billion dollar franchise.
At least give me estimated budgets for each game. Lazy!
Canis lupus
Member
It certainly looks like that with those graphics.
Monocle
Member
Every Halo game so far has had a number of less than great missions. If Halo 4 can break that trend and deliver a consistently strong campaign, the level count should be fine. If not...well, I'll be extremely disappointed to say the least, since I'm (mostly) allergic to multiplayer. It's not every year we get a new Halo. I count on each new campaign to sustain me during the wait for the next one.
I really hope that I'll love the campaign. Like, a lot.
LiquidSolid
Member
Epic's budget estimates aren't to be taken seriously. They cut out a hell of a lot of the costs to get to that because, according to them, a lot of the work is them investing in their engine. And while that makes sense, as UE3 is obviously their main source of income, it also makes their budget estimates a bit of a joke.
LA Noire - $75 million excluding marketing, which probably took it over $100 million
http://www.marketrap.com/article/view_article/91236/the-cost-of-la-noire-for-take-two-interactive
Not surprising that Take 2 are constantly on the edge of sinking. LA Noire would make it Rockstar's fourth $100 million+ budget game in a row (GTAIV, RDR, LA Noire and MP3) and that's not even taking into account some of their other games with ridiculously long development cycles (like Bioshock Infinite, XCOM and Spec Ops). Crazy company.
Anyway, while Microsoft obviously aren't going to lose any money over Halo 4, I hope they don't continue the trend of upping the budget and actually manage to lower it with the next game. I really don't think $100 million budgets are healthy at all, even for games that will easily make that money back.
More Fun To Compute
Member
I enjoyed the SP in the first 3 Halo games. Have they shown any SP gameplay trailers yet that show the classic "30 seconds of fun" gameplay? I looked for one on youtube and it was just a bog standard linear corridor with lots of narration and cinematic shit. It was more like 5 minutes of mild tedium.
Foliorum Viridum
Banned
Halo has always been a decent but vastly overrated franchise.
Halo 4 is the first one that is really exciting me. Hopefully it's money well spent.
Ironically, ODST, which was probably cheap as chips to make, is by far my favourite Halo game.
Halo 4 is the first one that is really exciting me. Hopefully it's money well spent.
Ironically, ODST, which was probably cheap as chips to make, is by far my favourite Halo game.
MagicWithEarvin
Member
Holy crap, 2K/Rockstar puts up insane figures to make their games with marketing included. Over $100M budget? Crazy.
AltogetherAndrews
Member
Bomb? A game in the Halo series? I've totally lost touch with the gaming community.
Can I ask why you think it is overrated as a franchise? Comments like this abound but I never see any legitimate basis to them. Different people like different games - and halo is unmatched when it comes to sophisticated sandbox-based shooting games, so of course some people are going to love it, and some hate it.
Your argument of "the franchise isn't as good as people say it is, but I'm excited for the new one because of the pretty graphics" strikes me as odd.
Clay Davis
Member
why would they stop investing? haven't they recently set up a number of studios for next generation game development?
I also believe halo has lost some mind-share in the market, but I don't believe it will bomb in any respect. it might not sell as well as black ops 2, but I foresee it being a big seller in its own right.
Trickster
Member
no..no it hasnt
Foliorum Viridum
Banned
Where did I say I was excited because of pretty graphics? I'm excited because it's new blood and new vision. Don't put words into my mouth.
I always felt that Halo did the sandbox thing very well, of course, but as a shooter it felt a bit lacking. Very few guns had the right kick to them and, although I can list dozens of things they do amazingly well, the overall product was never as fun as they should have been for me. Why? I'm not really sure, there's just something there that never clicked for me. I always found the vehicle levels to be the most impressive and memorable moments of the game!
The core gameplay mechanics of Halo games have always been solid, but the fact it's a new team gives me hope they they'll tie it all together in a way that's more interesting to me. The level and enemy design so far definitely grabs me a lot more and the combat looks a bit more fluid.
Halo 1, ODST and Reach are all really good games... I've just never felt that OMG HALO FUCK YEAH love that most do. I don't like it in MP, though, which is probably half the reason. I'm more of a Counter-Strike/Call of Duty guy when it comes to MP in FPS games, so my comments are purely based on the SP experience.
yes it has
they are building quality game after game but the first ones didn't deserve all that praise
The money is well spent, $100+ million dollar are absolutely necessary to create a masterpiece.
Leslie Benzies, the producer of Grand Theft Auto IV
http://grandtheftauto.ign.com/articles/news/408/100-Million-Spent-on-GTA-IV-Development
Its okay since NBA 2k funds GTA, Max Payne, etc. while not getting the money pumped into it like the games it funds.
Yeah, ok, whatever you say.
That's a load of poo. Show me any other console game that shaped the industry like Halo did. Your closest shot is GTA3.
MrCookiepants
Member
How did Max Payne 3 cost that much? Long development =/= $100 million. Where the actual fuck did all that money go?
I´m sure that Rockstar made money with LA Noire,but MP3.....imo it never will get the money back in sales it cost to create.
Anyway,the T2/Rockstar´s philosophy is slighty different to the rest of the industry,for example,Rockstar didn´t expect to make money with Red Dead Redemption.
That project was just supposed to prove that the San Diego studio could make a great quality AAA title.
Monocle
Member
No. Halo CE still plays better than most contemporary shooters. All these years later, the AI can still surprise you. The controls feel just about perfect. The physics are just right. It's a timeless campaign. If you chopped off one finger for every FPS that holds up as well as Halo, you could still play piano.
HollovVpo1nt
Banned
Well one way to look at it is that they spend that much money on Halo 4, another way to look at it is that they spend that much money on Halo 4 + preparating tools and transitioning into next gen. I beleive the latter.
IrishNinja
Member
you know how many shenmues they couldve made for that?
like at least 2, geez
like at least 2, geez
Combichristoffersen
Combovers don't work when there is no hair
They'll make back that budget and then some without breaking a sweat.
grimshawish
Banned
Have to say, launching this to lead into the 720 Halo 5/6 is a pretty clever move.
Whilst I still think this game will be down on the sales of Halo 3, its still going to do very well indeed and MS's strategy here sounds about right. Money well spent I'd say.
Long development + $100 million indicates they didn't manage it very well at all; even if content isn't being 'created' everyone working on it is still getting paid over that time.
Whilst I still think this game will be down on the sales of Halo 3, its still going to do very well indeed and MS's strategy here sounds about right. Money well spent I'd say.
Long development + $100 million indicates they didn't manage it very well at all; even if content isn't being 'created' everyone working on it is still getting paid over that time.
ScreenSplitter
Member
Wow. The dev costs for Halo 5 (presumably on the NextBox) are going to be very interesting to see.
LiquidSolid
Member
Hahahaha. Tell that to the myriad of other, FAR better games that were developed on half the budget.
I'll take a calculated guess and say that a lot of it was spent on things that were completely wasted. Rockstar's studios are rife with mismanagement, incompetence and incredibly high turnover rates, so a lot of the work spent on their games is thrown away.
Dr.Guru of Peru
played the long game
Flood, bad level design, repetitive encounters, etc. Most of the problems revolve around the Flood I guess, but they play such an important role in the game that they drag everything else down. The first 3 Halo games were all boring. Also, the story in Halo 3 was disjointed.
ODST and Reach were much better though, hopefully this one is too.
MightyHedgehog
Member
H5, I'm guessing, will probably be less or, at most, the same because they don't have to put together a new engine, a new team, a new direction for the gameplay in both SP and MP, and set up an entire plan around a trilogy arc. I mean, the foundations are now built for the rest to follow.
Kinda surprises me that they wanted to go so far with H4, honestly, but if any single game gets MS' attention, it should be their flagship franchise. I was expecting more modest investment, but I'm sure I'll be glad they went as they did...I hope, anyway.
TheContact
Member
On marketing, no doubt
Yeah, I'm actually sort of surprised they went so balls out on this one. I don't know if that's because they felt they needed to prove something with 343 Studios, or because it's Halo and they want dollah dollah bills.
Whatever the case, I don't mind. It'll make a hell of a swan song from a technical perspective if nothing else.
Whatever the case, I don't mind. It'll make a hell of a swan song from a technical perspective if nothing else.
BigDaddyFatSack
Banned
Graphics look so damn dated. I can't wait until Halo series move on to the next-gen platform next year.
