Destiny Might Be the Most Expensive Game Ever Made

[Demon_Skeith]

CEO Bobby Kotick has revealed that Activision is spending $500 million to try and make Destiny a hit. That's half a billion dollars, which is very likely more money than has ever been spent on a video game before. Dang.

Kotick's remarks—which came in an interview with Reuters—are a big deal, given how tight-lipped big video game companies are about financial matters. Anyone following the timeline of Bungie's in-development game already knows that the expectations and ambitions for Destiny are huge. Among other things, there's a ten-year publishing agreement and contract details that reveal just how much control Activision wants over the shared-world shooter. But, up until now, putting an estimate on the amount of money going into the game has been difficult.

To put some perspective on this, the money being spent on Destiny is more than twice the amount EA reportedly spent on Star Wars: The Old Republic and a little less than double the $265,000,000 Rockstar paid to get GTA V made. The Reuters article cites analysts saying that Destiny will have to sell 15-16 million copies at $60 to break even. So, the final game has to make a very, very good first impression.

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No doubt they want Destiny to repeat the success of Halo.

 

[Enigma]

Which it could very well do, if the game has half of the stuff they promise. Not to mention if they're using some of the money for future updates, game modes, special events, advertising, etc.

It is just as easy to make a game a hit as a bust. I'm thinking they're hoping the former and not the latter. I know I'll be one of the people getting a copy of it.