Bioshock Infinite reportedly cost publisher 2K a whopping $200 million

Source

Developers, like Rockstar, have bragged in the past that games make more than films at the box office, so why not fund games like Hollywood does? 2K Games is doing just that by throwing nearly $200 million at BioShock Infinite, according to The New York Times which cited unnamed analysts. Not since Grand Theft Auto IV -- allegedly $100M and produced by 2K's owners Take-Two -- has so much money been thrown at a project

Around $100M was spent on Infinite's production and as much as another $100 will be spent on marketing. Remember when we were all gobsmacked that Gears of War cost $10 million? While game budgets have gone up, BioShock Infinite is pushing to the top of the list of most expensive productions. Shenmue ($94M in today's economy) says hi!

Destructoid recently reported that Ken Levine decided to axe the BioShock film when Universal declined its $200 million budget. I wondered where that ridiculously high number, usually reserved for major franchise sequels (Harry Potter, Transformers), came from. Well, it may have come from BioShock Infinite's budget. Hard to go back to a measly $80 mil, right guys!?

The exclusive review, generous pre-purchase offers, and massive marketing push around this game is all starting to make sense: 2K doesn't want to take any chances after investing so heavily in this risky venture. Even a 90+ Metacritic score and strong ad push may not be enough to make this bird fly. I sure hope so, as the resulting dialog among publishers may lead to less ambitious games in the future.

Destructoid

Yikes. Makes me wonder if the "second crash" may happen to the console market this gen. Publishers really need to get these budgets under control. 

I don't think another crash would happen. The industry would reign itself in before it'd suffer another crash. If anything, I think we'll steadily see less games that go heavy on the bombast and crazy high production values. They're becoming too expensive to sustain.

$200 million?  Ouch.  So if the publisher/developer gets about 50 per cent of the $60 dollars for each sale, they have to sell over 6.5 million copies just to recoup costs.  That's insane.  No wonder Ken Levine was talking about giving everyone 'the best shot' for the game being successful at retail.

I have to wonder if those kinds of budgets are really sustainable going forward, especially with the increasing fragmentation of the market across many platforms.

[QUOTE="Gallowhand"]

$200 million?  Ouch.  So if the publisher/developer gets about 50 per cent of the $60 dollars for each sale, they have to sell over 6.5 million copies just to recoup costs.  That's insane.  No wonder Ken Levine was talking about giving everyone 'the best shot' for the game being successful at retail.

I have to wonder if those kinds of budgets are really sustainable going forward, especially with the increasing fragmentation of the market across many platforms.

dvader654

The publisher still has to recoup the marketing costs via game sales.

ahahhahaha! NO!

There is NO way any company is spending $100 million on marketing. Even movie studios dont spend a $100 million marketing movies. I find it hilarious that someone even ran a story saying it cost $100 million. How f*cking stupid are these journalists?

GTAIV cost a $100 million to make and it was the biggest game of all time at the time. Hell, it still is. Bioshock is a linear FPS single player game. $50 million tops and only because the game was in development hell for 2 years. 

Ken Levine is denying those numbers. I believe him because really, $200 million on f*cking Bioshock would be suicidal. JML897

Well, that's good to know.

You know what we need in this industry? More fact-checking.

Ken Levine is denying those numbers. I believe him because really, $200 million on f*cking Bioshock would be suicidal. JML897

Ahaha...that made me laugh. :lol:

Where'd they get these numbers from?

[QUOTE="JML897"]Ken Levine is denying those numbers. I believe him because really, $200 million on f*cking Bioshock would be suicidal. Lucky_Krystal

Ahaha...that made me laugh. :lol:

Where'd they get these numbers from?

Yeah holy crap. 

[QUOTE="Gallowhand"]

$200 million?  Ouch.  So if the publisher/developer gets about 50 per cent of the $60 dollars for each sale, they have to sell over 6.5 million copies just to recoup costs.  That's insane.  No wonder Ken Levine was talking about giving everyone 'the best shot' for the game being successful at retail.

I have to wonder if those kinds of budgets are really sustainable going forward, especially with the increasing fragmentation of the market across many platforms.

dvader654

Have you seen some of the promos for the game? Like, amazon has this really crazy preorder offer where you get

latest xcom game

$30 credit towards future 2k games

For a $60 preorder

the article TC links has a link in itself for New York Times... "The estimated cost of the project is upward of $100 million, not including marketing expenses, which could add another $100 million, analysts said." ...well that was rather bad fact checking, I'm wondering who the "analysts" could have been, maybe it was Michael Pachter speaking for Wedbush.lamprey263

I assume it was more than Patcher (if he was even involved at all) given the pural usage. Either way, yeah -- real bad slip-up on their part. Did no one think to contact 2K to verify?

Ken Levine is denying those numbers. I believe him because really, $200 million on f*cking Bioshock would be suicidal. JML897

Well, that's a relief.  But given the number and scale of preorder bonuses, I'm assuming the marketing budget is still quite large.

Source

[QUOTE="Destructoid"]

Developers, like Rockstar, have bragged in the past that games make more than films at the box office, so why not fund games like Hollywood does? 2K Games is doing just that by throwing nearly $200 million at BioShock Infinite, according to The New York Times which cited unnamed analysts. Not since Grand Theft Auto IV -- allegedly $100M and produced by 2K's owners Take-Two -- has so much money been thrown at a project

Around $100M was spent on Infinite's production and as much as another $100 will be spent on marketing. Remember when we were all gobsmacked that Gears of War cost $10 million? While game budgets have gone up, BioShock Infinite is pushing to the top of the list of most expensive productions. Shenmue ($94M in today's economy) says hi!

Destructoid recently reported that Ken Levine decided to axe the BioShock film when Universal declined its $200 million budget. I wondered where that ridiculously high number, usually reserved for major franchise sequels (Harry Potter, Transformers), came from. Well, it may have come from BioShock Infinite's budget. Hard to go back to a measly $80 mil, right guys!?

The exclusive review, generous pre-purchase offers, and massive marketing push around this game is all starting to make sense: 2K doesn't want to take any chances after investing so heavily in this risky venture. Even a 90+ Metacritic score and strong ad push may not be enough to make this bird fly. I sure hope so, as the resulting dialog among publishers may lead to less ambitious games in the future.

Vari3ty

Yikes. Makes me wonder if the "second crash" may happen to the console market this gen. Publishers really need to get these budgets under control. 

A second crash is going to happen unless devs and pubs reign in these insane costs. We've lost more dev houses since 2005 than probably the entire history of the industry before that combined. And with costs going up yet again it will only get worse. This is where I think Nintendo was smart in making a system that didnt really increase the dev costs over the last gen.

In regards to Bioshock 3 be prepared for how it didnt meet the crazy high sales goal to break even of over 6 million copies sold. Then the following studio closure and layoff headlines then us the gamers getting blamed because it didnt meet sales expectations.

Hopefully Im wrong and this game is a success. I dont want anyone to be out of a job, but sooner or later, lessons are gonna have to be learned, probably the hard way, that you cant spend that kind of  crazy money and expect your gamble to make a profit.

If true ($100 million dev costs I could believe...) how many units would they have to move to recoup?

Sheesh. And this is why most studios from this gen (including publishers like THQ) have closed up shop (see here), because of overspending so much money trying to make very high budget games (AAA titles) while also overspending money on marketing/advertising.

[QUOTE="Vari3ty"]Yikes. Makes me wonder if the "second crash" may happen to the console market this gen. Publishers really need to get these budgets under control.svaubel

A second crash is going to happen unless devs and pubs reign in these insane costs. We've lost more dev houses since 2005 than probably the entire history of the industry before that combined. And with costs going up yet again it will only get worse. This is where I think Nintendo was smart in making a system that didnt really increase the dev costs over the last gen.

In regards to Bioshock 3 be prepared for how it didnt meet the crazy high sales goal to break even of over 6 million copies sold. Then the following studio closure and layoff headlines then us the gamers getting blamed because it didnt meet sales expectations.

Hopefully Im wrong and this game is a success. I dont want anyone to be out of a job, but sooner or later, lessons are gonna have to be learned, probably the hard way, that you cant spend that kind of  crazy money and expect your gamble to make a profit.

I agree with both of you. This entire gaming industry needs a wake up call.

How much of that went to IGN for that review? Not enough if BF4 is odds on favorite for GotY. ;)

-

Will buy. Eventually. Glad it's getting some good buzz. Personally, I haven't seen anything really on the advertising front. Other than here of course. Wonder where all that ad cash goes?

[QUOTE="JML897"]Ken Levine is denying those numbers. I believe him because really, $200 million on f*cking Bioshock would be suicidal. c_rake

Well, that's good to know.

You know what we need in this industry? More fact-checking.

Fact checking is pretty sloppy everywhere. Even in the mainstream media, journalists looking to make a point tend to embrace claims which support their argument without bothering to see if the claims are real. The 'teh gaming is doomed' contingent (which includes the Destructoid writer) certainly swallowed the ridiculous 200,000,000 budget argument whole without examining it.

Still, its hilarious that the guy didn't bothered to contact Levine.

Gaming journalism never ceases to amaze.

There's no way that is true. If it was they would need to sell 4MILLION copies priced at the full 60$. And that's not including the fee's they lose from store's

is it really that unconceivable? Like, COD2 and COD3 I believe had budgets around $50 million to develop and then a marketing budget that pushed that to $200 million.

is it really that unconceivable? Like, COD2 and COD3 I believe had budgets around $50 million to develop and then a marketing budget that pushed that to $200 million.

taiwwa

CoD2 and CoD3 didn't have budgets that huge. MW2 and MW3 may have. I'm guessing that's what you meant but there's a big difference.

Second, the CoD series is one of the very few gaming franchises that can afford to have a total budget of that size. It's one of the biggest franchises in all of video games. Bioshock is a fairly successful series but it sure as hell is not Call of Duty.

I'll be doing my part to get some of that money back to them when I buy the game.l

Bioshock series is not your traditional FPS series. There are certain topics, incorporated into the storyline, that are never touchd by any other shooter out there. I respect developers and publishers who are willing to take the risk to present another idea - something unprecedented and unpredictable. I support that sort of innovation, so i would buy the game - brand, spanking new.

[QUOTE="taiwwa"]

is it really that unconceivable? Like, COD2 and COD3 I believe had budgets around $50 million to develop and then a marketing budget that pushed that to $200 million.

JML897

CoD2 and CoD3 didn't have budgets that huge. MW2 and MW3 may have. I'm guessing that's what you meant but there's a big difference.

Second, the CoD series is one of the very few gaming franchises that can afford to have a total budget of that size. It's one of the biggest franchises in all of video games. Bioshock is a fairly successful series but it sure as hell is not Call of Duty.

er, yeah, that's what I meant. 

if I were at 2k games I would be nervous. Like, SP games are very vulnerable to piracy and like right now it's a much more crowded marketplace. Bioshock 1 wasn't just innovative, it was one of the best looking games that came out shortly after a new console launch.

Basically, I'd probably be more comfortable with bioshock infinite if it were designed ground up with the PS4 in mind.