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[Dahbomb]

Link here.

Ignition is presently developing a path-breaking top end game 'WarDevil' budgeted at around GBP 10 million and is expected to release it in the year 2008 exclusively on the Sony Playstation3(tm) (PS3) platform. PS3 was launched in November 2006 in Japan and the US and it is expected to sell more than 30 million units by the end of 2008.

Says Andy Whitehurst, the Creative Director spearheading 'War Devil', "The project is being developed exclusively for the Sony Playstation3(tm) and we're excited to be associated with Sony's next generation system. WarDevil is designed to leverage not only the videogames properties of the system, but also the Blu-Ray and media rich functions of the PS3 - presenting a unique combination of both Videogame & Motion Picture into a single, unique product, which gives cinematic High Definition content (1080P) in real-time on the PS3."

First Killzone at $21 million+ and now this game almost at $20 million... where is all this money coming from? Is this Sony money hats doing their stuff? Discuss.

 

[Zombie James]

And they're both still cheaper than Final Fantasy VII.

 

[Mau ®]

That's a lot of money. Who's financing? Is Sony publishing ?

 

[hyp]

let's just hope the game turns out good. if david jaffe's neoGAF interview is any indication as to how sony is developing its 1st party titles, then i'm all for it. i don't mind the long dev times w/ high production values. i'm totally patient and i'd rather have quality than quantity.

 

[AniHawk]

That's a lot of Game Boy Pockets.

 

[Moderation Unlimited]

Link here.




First Killzone at $21 million+ and now this game almost at $20 million... where is all this money coming from? Is this Sony money hats doing their stuff? Discuss.

Where do movie studios get hundreds of millions of dollars to work with?

 

[Insane Metal]

And the excellent Red Steel was $12M, so what ?

 

[duk]

30 million by end of 2008 :lol

 

[MassiveAttack]

And the excellent Red Steel was $12M, so what ?

$12M for Red Steel? Link?

 

[Shaved Moustache]

Where do movie studios get hundreds of millions of dollars to work with?

Mafia?

 

[Zonar]

30 million by end of 2008 :lol

yea I saw that and smiled too

 

[PhoenixDark]

Hm. Good luck with that Ignition

 

[Insane Metal]

$12M for Red Steel? Link?

http://www.nintendolife.com/articles/2006/08/12/red_steel_development_costs

or

http://digitalbattle.com/2006/08/11/red-steel-costs-ubisoft-12-million/

Or do a search on IGN or GS... whatever

 

[Defuser]

So anybody knows the past track records of good games made by Ignition?

 

[Effulgence]

30 million by end of 2008 :lol

Significantly slower than PS2?

 

[theBishop]

If i were Sony i would be trying to buy indies like Ignition. Establishing a strong foundation of technology on which to start PS3 development is important at this early stage. Especially when everyone is saying Sony's lagging way behind in supporting developers.

 

[AniHawk]

30 million by end of 2008 :lol

That's like the DS reaching 30m by the end of this year, isn't it?

(same timespan, I mean)

 

[xaosslug]

holy shlamolla, that's a lot of kablingy.

 

[Dahbomb]

30 million by end of 2008 :lol

That's about what the PS2 shipped in that same time frame. In fact Sony made that huge slideshow completely shitting on the competition while quoting that number.

 

[meltpotato]

WOW

 

[andthebeatgoeson]

So, what, the publisher gets 10-20 bucks from that? Somebody know the economics on these things? It'll take 500K at $50 profit from each game. I know Sony takes < $10. Then shipping, manufacturing. At $20 profit for each game, they'll have to sell a million to get even. Although big sellers in all three areas should be alright.

Will we see more games approach $50 million for development? Like GTA or something?

 

[MrToughPants]

And the excellent Red Steel was $12M, so what ?

I'd make a joke but it would result in a ban. :lol

 

[mashoutposse]

30 million by end of 2008 :lol

Something tells me that by the end of 2008, you'll be using a different smiley...

 

[Proelite]

Killzone, Wardevil, and Resistance 2. Three awesome scifi shooters that would nicely complement my copies of halo 3, gears 2, and wolfenstein. Gosh, I am in nerd heaven this generation.
Btw, willing to bet anything there won't be 30 million ps3 or 360 installed base by 2008. Wii, yes.

 

[Bad_Boy]

I take it Sony is the publisher?

 

[jett]

WTF is financing this thing?

 

[GhaleonEB]

30 million by end of 2008 :lol

Nice to see a target. I wonder if Sony will be as successful at hitting this target as they have been at hitting, oh, every single target they've set so far?

Something tells me that by the end of 2008, you'll be using a different smiley...

Microsoft got a steal, with Gears of War costing $10m.

WarDevil is designed to leverage not only the videogames properties of the system, but also the Blu-Ray and media rich functions of the PS3 - presenting a unique combination of both Videogame & Motion Picture into a single, unique product, which gives cinematic High Definition content (1080P) in real-time on the PS3."

Holy shit! It's like the dot-com era is back, along with all the BS-speak that came with it. I don't know what I just read, but it was hilarious. :lol

This reminds me a LOT of how Killzone was hyped from the beginning to be this astounding Halo-killer.

 

[WarLox]

Killzone, Wardevil, and Resistance 2. Three awesome scifi shooters that would nicely complement my copies of halo 3, gears 2, and wolfenstein. Gosh, I am in nerd heaven this generation.
Btw, willing to bet anything there won't be 30 million ps3 or 360 installed base by 2008. Wii, yes.

but what about shipped

 

[HocusPocus]

I'd say they will be lucky to get back half the amount of investment into the game unless it gets a huge publisher push.

 

[forgeforsaken]

Something tells me that by the end of 2008, you'll be using a different smiley...

To hit 30 million by the end of 2008 they're going to need to start hitting about a million a month starting oh right about now.

 

[element]

how does Ignition relate to Digiguys (who afaik are the ones actually making the game).

 

[Pristine_Condition]

Just wondering, does anyone know if this Andy Whitehurst the same Andy Whitehurst that used to do CGI work with Haus Teknikka and Double Negative for TV and movies? Is Digi-Guys his company? Is Digi-Guys owned by Ignition?

 

[Pimpwerx]

To hit 30 million by the end of 2008 they're going to need to start hitting about a million a month starting oh right about now.

Production isn't linear. PS1 and PS2 production were up to 2M units per month at their peaks. PSP will hit that shipping total in about the same time too, I think (I know, phantom units and whatnot). Demand might be an issue, given the price and the short two year span. PEACE.

 

[duk]

So if this is coming 08, it will go up against GOW2. Fun times ahead on GAF guaranteed!

 

[IJoel]

Microsoft got a steal, with Gears of War costing $10m.

Was that really the cost to MS? I thought it was more of an Epic development figure.

 

[Blame!]

i predict bomba....

no way they're gonna make that money back when alls said and done.

 

[GhaleonEB]

Was that really the cost to MS? I thought it was more of an Epic development figure.

I though MS paid the deveopment and then MS/Epic took a split after, but I might be mistaken. Either way, I mention that figure as a comparable development cost to this title; Epic has been adamant that development costs don't need to spiral that high and Gears is a good example of that.

 

[andthebeatgoeson]

So, what, the publisher gets 10-20 bucks from that? Somebody know the economics on these things? It'll take 500K at $50 profit from each game. I know Sony takes < $10. Then shipping, manufacturing. At $20 profit for each game, they'll have to sell a million to get even. Although big sellers in all three areas should be alright.

Will we see more games approach $50 million for development? Like GTA or something?

Doing some digging, I found one source claiming that Publisher's make/take around 65% of the money made on these games. @ $50 a game, that's a little over $30 a game. So, they would have to sell a little over 650K to break even. Hmm.

 

[Bad_Boy]

I though MS paid the deveopment and then Gears/Epic took a split after, but I might be mistaken. Either way, I mention that figure as a comparable development cost.

But epic (or would it be midway) paid for the development of unreal engine 3, the engine gears of war is based on. Correct? Or do you not add the engine development in the price.

Anyways, again who the hell is publishing this game?

 

[element]

I'm sure the $10m Gears of War comment only takes game specific work on-site at Epic into consideration, and not development of the engine or MS own employees into account.

But epic (or would it be midway) paid for the development of unreal engine 3

It would be Epic. It would be considered R&D from the profits they made from UE2 and signing with MS for Gears. Not that Epic needs the money.

 

[duk]

how much does it have to sell to break even, factoring 10 bucks to the publisher and 10 bucks to the developer?

 

[GhaleonEB]

But epic (or would it be midway) paid for the development of unreal engine 3, the engine gears of war is based on. Correct? Or do you not add the engine development in the price.

Anyways, again who the hell is publishing this game?

I think the engine cost is seperate, Epic just used it for this game. I recall Mark Rein commenting on the $10m figure that it's just the game, not engine cost. Epic paid for it themselves, but then they license that product out as well.

 

[element]

how much does it have to sell to break even, factoring 10 bucks to the publisher and 10 bucks to the developer?

depends on the budget. $15m game needs to sell roughly 600k units to break even. That isn't including marketing dollars either.

so really $15m game + $5m in marketing needs to sell around 850k units to break even.

 

[duk]

depends on the budget. $15m game needs to sell roughly 600k units to break even. That isn't including marketing dollars either.

so really $15m game + $5m in marketing needs to sell around 850k units to break even.

oh boy :lol

 

[mashoutposse]

To hit 30 million by the end of 2008 they're going to need to start hitting about a million a month starting oh right about now.

See Pimpwerx's response.

My prediction: 12m in 2007, 17-19m in 2008.

On topic, I think Sony's starting to consider some of these 1st party projects as "loss leaders" for the platform. This might be the beginning of true 'halo' games (not talking Bungie here) that may not be profitable but send strong messages to consumers about the platform as a whole, similar to how the Viper is the 'halo' car of the Dodge brand.

 

[duk]

See Pimpwerx's response.

My prediction: 12m in 2007, 17-19m in 2008.

On topic, I think Sony's starting to consider some of these 1st party projects as "loss leaders" for the platform. This might be the beginning of true 'halo' games (not talking Bungie here) that may not be profitable but send strong messages to consumers about the platform as a whole, similar to how the Viper is the 'halo' car of the Dodge brand.

So Sony will be able to produce and ship more units than the 360 in the same time period with a worse start? That's a BFDI.

 

[meltpotato]

So Sony will be able to produce and ship more units than the 360 in the same time period with a worse start? That's a BFDI.

and higher pricepoint with the multiplat games available on a cheaper platform. yes.

 

[X26]

Jeesh, that's a lot of money. Although I'd imagine a lot of what that money goes towards can be re-used later on and such to cut costs with future titles

 

[mashoutposse]

So Sony will be able to produce and ship more units than the 360 in the same time period with a worse start? That's a BFDI.

Yes. SCE spent the last decade producing and shipping (significantly) more units than the competition in identical time periods, regardless of start. Although by no means guaranteed, it's a safer bet than you're willing to give it credit for.

 

[duk]

Yes. SCE spent the last decade producing and shipping (significantly) more units than the competition in identical time periods, regardless of start. Although by no means guaranteed, it's a safer bet than you're willing to give it credit for.

That doesn't guarantee anything this time around. Did that guarantee them to meet 4m units by year end? Also you're not looking at the price point. You think PS3 will sell the same amounts as PS2 at a significanly higher price point? If anything is to go buy, 360 is proving even at 400 that is too high.

I am going to say Sony will ship 10m units by end of 07 (around same as MS).