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Kotaku's Superannuation: The Elder Scrolls Online has cost $200 million

Nirolak

Mrgrgr
Given that SWTOR cost nearly $200 million according to the LA Times, and TESO seems to have a larger team size and longer dev cycle, this seems believable.

teso4vs94.png


Source: https://twitter.com/supererogatory/status/418451666707300353
 

Mpl90

Two copies sold? That's not a bomb guys, stop trolling!!!
I hope for Bethesda it doesn't fail. The consequences would be...let's just say awful.
 

Syf

Banned
Well, hopefully they spent some of that cash on end-game content or it'll be another early exit for most players just like TOR.
 

RoboPlato

I'd be in the dick
Major publishers dumping huge amounts of money into MMOs, quite possibly the riskiest genre for profit, just seems like a bad idea every time. They can have high reward but usually the amount of resources going into them is better served just making four other games.
 
Hey, a certain other popular franchise MMO cost $200 million to make recently, that must have done really well with such a big franchise and such a big budget....
 

styl3s

Member
Should of been F2P from the start.

It will hit F2P within 6-8 months of release. It's SWTOR all over again only less people are interested in this.
 

antitrop

Member
Hey, a certain other popular franchise MMO cost $200 million to make recently, that must have done really well with such a big franchise and such a big budget....

Hasn't SWTOR turned a profit since going F2P? I heard that, but I don't know if it's actually true or not.
 

Ouren

Member
NUMBERS

If they sell 7million (skyrim sold 10 in the first month) units with $45 revenue (consumer paying 60) a pop, they will have made a $115 million profit.

Month two, they make $105 million with no additional work, just on subs.

That's enough.
 

Azzurri

Member
Biggest flop of 2014 and it isn't even out yet.

They probably will recoup a lot on box sales alone though.
 

Jinko

Member
It's going to be SWTOR all over again.

NUMBERS

If they sell 7million (skyrim sold 10 in the first month) units with $45 revenue (consumer paying 60) a pop, they will have made a $115 million profit.

Month two, they make $105 million with no additional work, just on subs.

That's enough.

Assuming there is enough content to keep people longer than a month.
 

Mindlog

Member
I'd love to see the cumulative total revenue for 'chase games' of the past two decades. I'm going to guess that chasing WoW has cost the industry the most money. Runner up is, CoD.
 

Nirolak

Mrgrgr
Is the MMORPG market even suitable for this sort of thing anymore? Genuine question.

Well, SWTOR has about 500K subs and some decent f2p revenue, but I'm not sure putting in $200 million for that was worth it from an initial investment perspective.

I mean you can probably brute force out a really popular mobile game for less than that and make about the same.
 

enzo_gt

tagged by Blackace
It's sad to see them so blind to this flop that everyone can see coming miles away. It would be a miracle if this ended up being successful.
 

Nirolak

Mrgrgr
NUMBERS

If they sell 7million (skyrim sold 10 in the first month) units with $45 revenue (consumer paying 60) a pop, they will have made a $115 million profit.

Month two, they make $105 million with no additional work, just on subs.

That's enough.

All they need is 7 million MMO subs!
 

dimb

Bjergsen is the greatest midlane in the world
Crazy. No wonder it's subscription based. The time I put into it during the beta was probably some of the most unpleasant I've ever spent playing video games.
 

WanderingWind

Mecklemore Is My Favorite Wrapper
It's sad to see them so blind to this flop that everyone can see coming miles away. It would be a miracle if this ended up being successful.

I know it's two separate studios, but there still has to be resources tied up into a project this big? I hope the incoming titanic doesn't end up scuttling the franchise or worse, force them to shove out a half-baked TESVI.
 

Foffy

Banned
Crazy. No wonder it's subscription based. The time I put into it during the beta was probably some of the most unpleasant time I've ever spent playing video games.

Wow. Like, FFXIV 1.0 bad? Or somehow not even bad in the range of MMOs but just games?
 

Ether_Snake

安安安安安安安安安安安安安安安
Just make it look like ES is supposed to look like, done.
 
It's sad to see them so blind to this flop that everyone can see coming miles away. It would be a miracle if this ended up being successful.

i doubt they are blind to it, but they can't really eat 200 million or delay it much longer, they aren't going to make money on it
 

entremet

Member
Everyone is still chasing that WOW money.

Can't blame them. Guaranteed money is a way better revenue source than boxed products.
 

ari

Banned
Every time I load up skyrim or oblivion, all I think about is "online online mmorpg online online mmorgp". Then I realize that it isn't online. I'm not sure why this game isn't rubbing me the right way though. I should be excited. :/
 

antitrop

Member
Bethesda is going to do everything in their power to disingenuously market this as Skyrim Online, when it just looks like a shitty generic MMO with graphics and animation from 2006. I'm sure many will fall for it.
 

kswiston

Member
Everyone who decided to chase that WoW money in 2006-2008 is in the process of being burned now that their 4-6 year MMO development times are completed, and the products are releasing to a changed market.
 

Shogun1337

Junior Member
Not a big deal. The game'll do well, because it looks great, and I see this because I'm not a bandwagoning asshole.

Bethesda is going to do everything in their power to disingenuously market this as Skyrim Online, when it just looks like a shitty WoW-knockoff graphics and animation from 2006. I'm sure many will fall for it.

It looks nothing like WoW, and the animations are incredible for an MMORPG.

Do you guys just get hard ons from making fun of P2P MMO's?
 
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