The most expensive video games budgets ever

[Esker]

http://www.digitalbattle.com/2010/02/20/top-10-most-expensive-video-games-budgets-ever/

Discuss.

[linkspast]

I havent ever heard of ABP, or La Noire. Perhaps some of that should of gone in to maraketing,,,

[Esker]

I never heard of ABP either, but for L.A. Noire I can't say the same, indeed I got scared when I saw the date of its first trailer in gametrailers. I problably saw it there:

http://www.gametrailers.com/game/l-a-noire/3244

If it is true and they still making it seems that will be a great game.

[zircon]

You probably haven't heard of APB because it's not out yet. It's by the same guys who did Crackdown.

[lazygecko]

And the original author of GTA and Lemmings.

[tom1uphat]

That much money for Too Human?

I hated that game. It seemed like killing the same bad guy 5 million times in one endless hallway. Got old after about 5 minutes.

[Malaki-LEGEND.sys]

Considering that Final Fantasy XII was in development from 2003(I think) and released in 2006, I wonder how much it would cost to make it today using the same tech?

These development budgets are bloody insane though. Shit is getting out of hand.

[LuIzA]

I'm not surprised to learn of GTA4's outrageously ridiculous budget... but in the end, I found the game pretty much unplayable. physics were pretty damn good, sure, but it made the controls very uncomfortable to me. That, and the cell phone thing was a little annoying.

Speaking of FFXII, what of the FFXIII's budget?

[Jam Stunna]

Oh my God Shenmue was $70 million? In 1999? I wonder what that would be in 2010 dollars.

[Gollgagh]

probably 300 by now

[Hum4n After All]

GTA4?!

Horse shit.

Game blew bubbles.

[Fishy]

Haaaaaahahaha, they spent THAT much on Too Human?

They could have spent all that money on hundreds of mini-motorbikes and had a massive race and filmed it - that might've been more entertaining.

[Malaki-LEGEND.sys]

Speaking of FFXII, what of the FFXIII's budget?

Says on the site that it's rumored to be 50% more than FFXII's, so somewhere around $72 million.

[Strike911]

Do these figures include marketing budgets or just the development? I'd imagine marketing would near about twice these figures.

Too Human making the jump from PlayStation 1 to Gamecube to Xbox360 was just bad planning. You're just asking for trouble in a scenario like that. Wikipedia says that Too Human cost 80 million to develop. Hm. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Too_Human

MGS4 and Shenmue on the other hand, while expensive to produce, contributed to many of my happiest memories in gaming. Totally worth every penny.

From what I've read don't think MGS4's figures were ever confirmed by anyone, and the amount was disputed by various people inside Konami HQ and KojiPro if my Metal Gear trivia is up to snuff (which I think it is). That number could be more or less.

Edit: Does make me wonder how much Super Mario Bros on the old NES cost to make. Could've sworn I read something about it at one point. Anyone know?

[Guy In Rubber Suit]

GTA4?!

Horse shit.

Game blew bubbles.

Because the quality of the game is factored into the game's budget. The article also states that marketing is not included.

I suspect that in time for the next generation consoles we'll start to see $200 million budgets kind of what we see with the typical Hollywood blockbuster now-a-days.

I don't find the budgets to be all that shocking. The higher the budget the higher the fidelity of the graphics and how much of a game world there is. In GTA4's case; Liberty City is a huge locale and had an enormous licensed soundtrack and the use of some big name voice actors helped catapult the game into the $100 million territory. Plus all the people working on the game to make it happen.

I wonder what Mass Effect 1 and 2's budget was?

[OverCoat]

Now I see why Bethesda only uses like 3 voice actors

and then kills off their big-name voice actor early in the game [see: Patrick Stewart / Liam Neeson]

Patrick Stewart totally played a fantasy king already though, in Lands of Lore:

great old dungeon crawler game. They also put Patrick Stewart's character into a coma from a magic spell. Must be a common budget-cutting technique, since writers are cheaper

[Gario]

I'd love to see the price tag for Duke Nukem Forever. Do any of you suppose that would top the list, if anyone had any clue how much money has been invested in that sinkhole?