Think Movies are Expensive to Make? Games Are!

[duckmanx88]

doesn't reflect inflation and doesn't even include marketing budget.

 

[rrr1431]

I don't get how a game can cost as much as a Hollywood summer movie. (you know the "blockbuster" kind woth all the big stars and the big explosions?) How can GTA cost $100 mil if you don't have to pay for sets, explosives and all that? If a large chunk of that goes to the actual people who program the game then damn! i'm in the wrong job!

 

[AMW1011]

When I saw Too Human at number 4, I cringed, poor Silicon Knights. That game wasn't bad, but when it couldn't deliver the goods against the hype it got a pretty bad rep. with reviewers and the media.

 

[ibn gozzy]

Let's see a list of top 10 movies side by side with the games. Just curious.

 

[stridervm]

Sadly I think this list is almost a guesswork.

A lot of the companies in this list do not actually reveal any of their expenses in regards to game development. Especially a lot of Japanese companies. I remember an interview saying that the MGS4 "budget" in this list is false and saying if this budget is true than MGS4 would be a multiplatform game right now.

 

[False_Dmitry_II]

[citation][nom]Shadow703793[/nom]define "quality" Are you talking about graphics? Game play?,etc?Imo, most of the PC games now are cr@ppy console ports and just re-makes. There haven't been any "revolutionary" games in a while for PC (ie for example Crysis was to graphics whereas Doom was to FPS)[/citation]

First he said run of the mill. That does not mean compare super mario world to anything in general today. It means compare something that might end up ridiculed by the angry videogame nerd on SNES to something like clive barker's Jericho. I'd say Jericho wins that one.

Second there is no longer any such thing as "revolutionary" like that. That's like saying you're bored of electricity because there's nothing "revolutionary" anymore. It had to start with something, and that's all there is to it. (unless you wanna count the wii and project natal. Even then you could say those aren't new the power glove did it first)

 

[requiemsallure]

[citation][nom]jaklsdjfklj2lkjkjs[/nom]None of my top 10 games even made the list, showing that $ spent does not = quality! (tho a few of my top 10 are more then 15 years old now!)[/citation]
woot StarCraft FTW!!!!!!!

 

[surfer1337dude]

[citation][nom]rrr1431[/nom]I don't get how a game can cost as much as a Hollywood summer movie. (you know the "blockbuster" kind woth all the big stars and the big explosions?) How can GTA cost $100 mil if you don't have to pay for sets, explosives and all that? If a large chunk of that goes to the actual people who program the game then damn! i'm in the wrong job![/citation]
Simple, every cost while developing this cost would be in here....so the taxes, utilities, wages (programmers wage is roughly $100,000/year i think), machines (computers/consols/etc), software (think about this, 1 piece of software like maya can cost over 3 grand and that is only for 1 computer....now all the artists (maybe 10-20 people) would have this so that kind of stuff is a huge cost), next can be food (alot of game companies have a fully stocked kitchen for the employees), etc. While movies have big name actors that gets tons of money, not many other people make much. While game companies have alot of people that all make a decent amount.

 

[1st duke of marlborough]

Oh how I love capitalism. This list made my day: the crappy games cost more to make. That is wonderful news! That means that the big companies sink huge sums of money into games that, with a few exceptions, did not sell well, or soon died down. Seems to me that the companies that waste so much capital on crap will die, making room for developers who actually know what they're doing (Valve anyone?)

The fact of the matter is that we live in the society of the common man, which means that for the most part our culture will be decidedly mediocre as far as quality goes. The beautiful part is that we are all free to express ourselves, so the gems will eventually rise to the top, even if you have to do a little digging--Mount and Blade comes to my mind immediately. Equality of condition truly is a wondrous, if far from perfect, thing.

 

[radbromance]

mgs4 didn't cost $60 mil bro apparently the producer said if it cost even $55 mil it would have had to be multiplatform source: http/thesnakesoup.org/?section=announcements&content=index&t=3877

 

[radbromance]

mgs4 didn't cost $60 mil bro apparently the producer said if it cost even $55 mil it would have had to be multiplatform source: http/thesnakesoup.org/?section=announcements&content=index&t=3877

 

[aletoil]

I agree with guy about Shenmue, best DC game to me, and one of the major reasons I became interested in learning about japanese culture, in hopes to move there some day VERY soon. On that note, the reason is everyone wants triple A titles, usually of the FPS variety, just because they are bankable. This mostly applies to consoles, thanks to devs taking advantage of those who mistakenly think they are getting a better experience from one. With games like Pain Killer, Serious sam, and other budget titles that hit the spot at the right time, there was tons of options for developers, some of which actually we may simply not see because they cant afford to shell out advertising dollars. Gaming grew out of garage 1-4 man operations, and with the quality of games these days, im thinking it should go back. KNow what im still playing today? Counter-Strike, Baldur's Gate 2, Fire pro Wrestling, hell, even Rogue Spear if I can get it to work on my Vista machine. Developers made games unique back then because it was for the love, not because of the hype surrounding the industry doing better than movies.

 

[MrHectorEric]

I was expecting MW2 to be on the list, but then considering the amount of content was about equal to an expansion pack, maybe I shouldn't be surprised. Also surprised a lot of good games aren't on that list.

 

[neiroatopelcc]

So many expensive games, and yet I've never played a single of them save for gta which I didn't like at all.

 

[seantm]

Id love to see numbers on World of Warcraft, to see the cost for developing it, its 3 expansions, and all the DLC inbetween; compared to its ~ $100,000,000 (or even MORE!) a month in subscription fees.

 

[Nexus52085]

[citation][nom]matchboxmatt[/nom]Hahahahah, what!? I'm sorry, but that's seriously the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard.Go back and play the run-of-the-mill SNES game in the 90s, and then play a run-of-the-mill PC game released today. Our standards are a lot higher than they used to be.[/citation]
Yeah, go play Legacy of the Wizard for NES and let me know when and if you beat it. How about megaman II? Those games are very challenging and are impossible to beat on the first try. Gears of War, Mass Effect, Modern Warfare. If you're careful, you can beat any of those games on the first attempt. Why do you think there are so many people who beat those games in like 8-10 hours(save for Mass Effect)?

 

[neiroatopelcc]

Mass effect doesn't really take much more than 8 hours either if you skip dialogue (would be silly, as that's the good part of the game) - dragon age is a lot more time demanding in comparison.

Anyway yes old games do have higher difficulty standards, but they're not nessecarily more fun to play. I could never get thru digger, but I'd still rather play enclave or wii frisby golf although they're both less demanding.

Difficulty level and gameplay isn't the same - neither are graphics and gameplay for that matter.

 

[jwl3]

I just wiki'd "Shenmue. " How stupid could these business people be? Says that at $70mm, each EXISTING Dreamcast owner would have had to purchase the game TWICE(!!!) in order for it to make a profit.

Were they counting on people buying a Dreamcast because of this game or some other sales from this game? I hope someone got fired for that.

 

[demonhorde665]

[citation][nom]eklipz330[/nom]Duke Nukem Forever? infinite million[/citation]

actually that is so far fromthe truth , 3d realms was funding duke nukem forever ,them selves with no publisher funding , hence why it was taking so long. to further boot when they finnally did ask the publisher for money the publisher added insult to injury by not giving teh requested funds but instead offering to buy the IP for a measly and insulting ammount of money.

 

[razor512]

game companies are greedy.

movies easily cost more to make than games do (while games are cheap to make, there nowhere near as expensive to make as movies, and yet a movie can be sold for a fraction of the cost and still turn in like over a billion in profits.
Game companies need to stop ripping people off.