It cost $220M to dev TLOU2 (The economics of AAA games) Update: Spider-man 2 info

[MeachTheMonster]

Sony spent $220 million to dev TLOU2. Marketing costs are estimated another $200 million.

Estimating they probably bring in about $50 cash per sale(Considering retailer cuts, Bundles, Sales, Server maintenance etc) they didn’t even break even on TLOU2 until it sold about 8 million copies.

This is why GAAS, and Subscriptions, and DLC, etc is so important to publishers right now including sony.

This is one of the most successful highly rated and most talked about single player AAA games in recent history and it’s road to profitability seems very dire.

Devs are gonna have to figure out how lower costs or these types of games will become fewer and fewer.

Update:

Spider-man 2 info leaked

Pre-production began in 2018, and at peak earlier this year there were 264 developers working directly on the project, with an additional 116 contributing in the form of managers, IT staff, and other support roles. 314 minutes of cinematics alone cost over $40 million. The final cost was roughly $30 million over the original $270 million budget, according to the presentation, requiring the game to sell 7.2 million copies at full price to break even.

My numbers were spot fukkin on and y’all argued me to death.

Keep telling y’all, Meach is always fukkin right. Quit arguing with me

 

[Gizmo_Duck]

This is one of the most successful highly rated and most talked about single player AAA games in recent history

 

[levitate]

So…Starfield will be unprofitable?

 

[Styles]

THIS is why I was completely okay with them raising the price of games to $70. Also why I dont get pissy when devs re-release games or horde DLC. At the end of the day if they aren't making money then we aren't getting these games.

 

[thaKEAF]

#MicrosoftNewsNetwork

 

[-DMP-]

THIS is why I was completely okay with them raising the price of games to $70. Also why I dont get pissy when devs re-release games or horde DLC. At the end of the day if they aren't making money then we aren't getting these games.

Same. I get more entertainment from some 70 dollar games than them free cheap/ shyts.

shyt is cheap af dollar/hour

 

[MeachTheMonster]

THIS is why I was completely okay with them raising the price of games to $70. Also why I dont get pissy when devs re-release games or horde DLC. At the end of the day if they aren't making money then we aren't getting these games.

Single player games almost need DLC, a “remaster” or re-release to make the investment worth it.

It’s kinda like getting GAAS $ for single player content

 

[Gizmo_Duck]

THIS is why I was completely okay with them raising the price of games to $70. Also why I dont get pissy when devs re-release games or horde DLC. At the end of the day if they aren't making money then we aren't getting these games.

And people tried to say sony was greedy for a 10 dollar price increase. Only later for microsoft and nintendo to do the same thing with games that probably don’t cost half as much to make

 

[Rekkapryde]

TLOU2 sales are over 10 million now. They've more than recouped.




And people need to shut the fukk up over 70 dollars. Still cheaper than 90s gaming


Dem SNES prices

 

[MeachTheMonster]

TLOU2 sales are over 10 million now. They've more than recouped.

Lots of those sales were at deeply discounted prices.

I’m sure they made money on it, but spending $400 mil for a $50-$100 mil profit isn’t a business proposition most are willing to make. Sony does it, cause they got a platform to sell, but even they are moving towards PC sales and GAAS to fund these games.

 

[radio rahiem]

Stop defending price increases.

 

[Khalil's_Black_Excellence]

THIS is why I was completely okay with them raising the price of games to $70. Also why I dont get pissy when devs re-release games or horde DLC. At the end of the day if they aren't making money then we aren't getting these games.

Same and Right. Like...why complain about getting more of the games you actually enjoy? And if you don't like, don't buy. Simple issues have simple answers to them.

 

[Bboystyle]

Why they black out some things when all u need to do is zoom in and see the numbers?

 

[Rekkapryde]

Lots of those sales were at deeply discounted prices.

I’m sure they made money on it, but spending $400 mil for a $50-$100 mil profit isn’t a business proposition most are willing to make. Sony does it, cause they got a platform to sell, but even they are moving towards PC sales and GAAS to fund these games.

you are a moron if you don't believe they've recouped that.

they know that game was going to sell an EASY 10 million and it's still selling.

The series as a whole was at almost 40 before the show.

They wouldn't have spent that on a game hoping it'd be successful. They knew it would be.

 

[MeachTheMonster]

you are a moron if you don't believe they've recouped that.

In the post you quoted, i literally said i’m sure they made a profit

they know that game was going to sell an EASY 10 million and it's still selling.

This is what i’m talking about.

Going forward AAA games won’t even be greenlit unless the publisher estimates the game will sell at least 5-7 mill worst case scenario. And if they don’t meet those sales, they probably won’t get many more chances to try.

The series as a whole was at almost 40 before the show.

They wouldn't have spent that on a game hoping it'd be successful. They knew it would be.

It made it there through now almost a decade of re-releases re-masters. DLC. Bundles, discounts, etc.

They basically have to turn single player games into ongoing money streams in order to make the investment worthwhile. Sony can do that because they are a platform holder. Most other Devs/publishers can’t take that risk.