Note that it’s from a contributor (deep dive editorial?)
More at the link
www.forbes.com
Insomniac has been devastated by a hack this week, with essentially the contents of the entire company leaking online. This has big implications for its specific games, which have had story leaks, and its employees, whose personal information has been published, but the higher level, non-personal, non-spoiler information from some of the documents paints a wider picture of Sony’s plans and struggles, and more general unsustainability in the AAA games space.
The most eye-popping reveal here is that Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 cost $300 million to make, an astonishing amount of money, and triple the game’s first budget. Those figures, combined with sales that have been reported, mean that even as Sony’s stated fastest-selling exclusive ever, it still has not broken even after a flood of initial sales. Not that it won’t in time, as a game like this will have a longer tail (Spider-Man 1 was the PS4’s best-selling exclusive), but it raises serious questions about how much longer this can go on.
One point being made is that while Spider-Man 2 is 3x the cost of the first game are players even…recognizing that extra investment? While Spider-Man 2 is bigger than the first game and perhaps a bit more expansive in terms of its set piece missions and dual heroes, it is…many elements being pulled from the first game and spin-off, like a lot of Peter and Miles’ gameplay. Large portions of the city have also been carried over. And yet it’s 3x the cost? How and why? It allowed Insomniac to reach its first 90 metascore…
…
While this is not exclusive to Sony, it is clearly a big problem for Sony specifically, and why there is some sense of panic to be found in these documents. Sony is known for making high-profile, well-received single player games. But awards don’t necessarily print money, and A) Sony’s distribution being limited to PlayStation consoles at launch, B) these games lacking ongoing revenue after they’re purchased once and C) the ballooning costs of these games appears to be leading toward somewhere very precarious.
As you can see, it does at least make some logical sense why Sony has done this recent push toward live service games. And yet by all accounts they’re not doing very well in regards to that plan. Six of twelve planned games have been delayed indefinitely. Its highest profile planned live game, The Last of Us Factions, has been cancelled entirely. Its purchased live service studio, Bungie, has seen its Destiny playercount drop sharply and has widely missed revenue goals since Sony picked it up for $3.6 billion.
More at the link
A $300 Million ‘Spider-Man 2’ Budget, Sony’s Future And AAA Unsustainability
The cost of Spider-Man 2's development raises larger questions not just about Sony, but the wider industry pumping out expensive AAA games.
www.forbes.com
Insomniac has been devastated by a hack this week, with essentially the contents of the entire company leaking online. This has big implications for its specific games, which have had story leaks, and its employees, whose personal information has been published, but the higher level, non-personal, non-spoiler information from some of the documents paints a wider picture of Sony’s plans and struggles, and more general unsustainability in the AAA games space.
The most eye-popping reveal here is that Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 cost $300 million to make, an astonishing amount of money, and triple the game’s first budget. Those figures, combined with sales that have been reported, mean that even as Sony’s stated fastest-selling exclusive ever, it still has not broken even after a flood of initial sales. Not that it won’t in time, as a game like this will have a longer tail (Spider-Man 1 was the PS4’s best-selling exclusive), but it raises serious questions about how much longer this can go on.
One point being made is that while Spider-Man 2 is 3x the cost of the first game are players even…recognizing that extra investment? While Spider-Man 2 is bigger than the first game and perhaps a bit more expansive in terms of its set piece missions and dual heroes, it is…many elements being pulled from the first game and spin-off, like a lot of Peter and Miles’ gameplay. Large portions of the city have also been carried over. And yet it’s 3x the cost? How and why? It allowed Insomniac to reach its first 90 metascore…
…
While this is not exclusive to Sony, it is clearly a big problem for Sony specifically, and why there is some sense of panic to be found in these documents. Sony is known for making high-profile, well-received single player games. But awards don’t necessarily print money, and A) Sony’s distribution being limited to PlayStation consoles at launch, B) these games lacking ongoing revenue after they’re purchased once and C) the ballooning costs of these games appears to be leading toward somewhere very precarious.
As you can see, it does at least make some logical sense why Sony has done this recent push toward live service games. And yet by all accounts they’re not doing very well in regards to that plan. Six of twelve planned games have been delayed indefinitely. Its highest profile planned live game, The Last of Us Factions, has been cancelled entirely. Its purchased live service studio, Bungie, has seen its Destiny playercount drop sharply and has widely missed revenue goals since Sony picked it up for $3.6 billion.
