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British website digitalspy.co.uk is reporting that blockbuster FPS Halo 3 cost $30 million to make.
And if that’s not enough to make your eyes water, we haven’t even begun to factor in the marketing budget for those shiny TV advertisements.
Fear not. Microsoft isn’t too bothered. Not only does it have pockets deeper than the Grand Canyon, it made a tidy profit on Master Chief’s final adventure in the current “story arc”. Tills rang to the tune of $170 million on the first day Halo 3 went on sale, outdoing even superhero flick Spider-man 3’s day one sales. Nice.
Digitalspy also reckons that the average PS3 game costs $15 million to make. No figure was given for the cost of the average Wii game.
Founder of Blitz Games Philip Oliver told the website: “These costs have risen so sharply because of the complexity of the devices which we are writing the games for.
“The costs have risen most sharply on the graphics side. We have entered a new era of high-definition video gaming.
“This has led to team sizes having to increase in this area, for new tools to be created for this and generally the costs are rocketing. This is actually having a severe hit on the industry.”
Development budget doesn’t have any bearing on game quality of course; just look at Lair. But you can read why every penny Microsoft spent on Halo 3 was worth it here and see where it appeared in our Top 10 Games of 2007 here.
