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If it is true that SWTOR cost near 500mil...
Teala
Member RarePosts: 7,627
that might explain why EA's stocks are taking a nose dive. They still haven't recovered the initial investment of making the game and this is hurting their stocks. They have to pay licensing fees to both Lucas Arts and Simutronics, which I am sure is a huge chunk of change. Anyway, if it is true that SWTOR cost near 500 million to make...that might explain why EA's stocks are still nose diving.
EA stocks <<< clicky
As SWTOR subs go...so does EA's stocks it seems. If you look at the 6 month cycle, you can see that the stocks peeked jsut before the release of the game. Since then...it's been in a nose dive.
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No MMO ever cost 500 Million Dollars to make , I think you have an extra 0 .. I read the budget was 50-60 Million which Is what you would expect for a Major MMO
Naah, don't really think so. Come on, 500m dollars for TOR? Really? While the most expensive MMO's cost like 50-60m dollars?? Nope, don't think so.
And when it comes to purchasing BW, BW is more than just 1 game, they made ME series, DA:O series, other future games, all this should be taken into account too.50 million legitimately spent, 450 million embezzled.
Uh...SW:TOR didn't cost anywhere NEAR 500 million LMAO. The rumored budget years ago was rumored to have been between 150-250 Mil, but according to BioWare/EA it wasnt anywhere near that much either. It was probably somewhere around 50-65 million tops. Where you got 500 mil is beyond me, maybe your imagination?
Bioware defense force assemble.
No...I think you are wrong when you consider the cost of voice acting and the amount of it that is in SWTOR. That adds up very quickly. Plus, look at how much was spent ona game like Kingdom of Amalur. It cost like 175 mil to produce. That is according to the documents that were made public by the state of Rhode Island. So if a game like that cost 175mil, is it easy to say that a game like SWTOR may have cost near 500 mil.
I think she got it from
http://massively.joystiq.com/2012/01/17/analyst-believes-star-wars-the-old-republic-had-a-500-million/6
But if you google you get reports from 60 Million to 500 Million , No developer would risk 500 Million on a Game . Not even James Cameron could ask & get 500 Million
http://tor.zam.com/story.html?story=28811
"According to the LA Times, 800 people across 4 countries spent nearly $200 million dollars creating Star Wars: The Old Republic. With 1,600 hours of story and 1,000 voice actors for 4,000 characters in 3 different languages,"
Fixed that for you.
Numbers I've heard ranged from 100 to 300. Keep in mind not all of "budget" is development. There's licensing of the IP (I'm sure Lucas Arts was not cheap) and promotional budget in there as well.
The cost of voice acting is nowhere NEAR that expensive, for any voice over project. I know this from personal experience when a voice over film project can cost anywhere from 14 million to a very unusual high of 100 million (very, very, very rare) and that includes major voice over talent and what it costs to get them on the project. A video game, with moderately known voice actors is not going to be that much.
The 500 million number borders on impossible.
I had heard 150 million was the current expendature a year before launch. These guys saying 50 million tops have no idea what goes into developing a game.
You might have 50 million tied up in paying the designers and coders, but there is alot of voice acting that was paid for.
There is also all the advertising the game did at launch, all the work done to hype the game on their end,
George Lucus won't let someone use his universe for free.
500 million may be a stretch, but I imagine it is closer than 50 million
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No, I do not think so when you consider that they hired 800 voice actors from 4 countries.
voice over talent is not THAT expensive, and especially not for the voice overs they use in these games. The most expensive voice actor they have hired in any of their games is probably Martin Sheen for Mass Effect, followed by Yvonne Strovosky and that's top notch. You could hire an entire cast of academy award winners and your voice over budget wouldn't exceed 100 million alone.
Man you guys just keep making this stuff up as you go along don't you?
Currently Playing: World of Warcraft
And because the 500 million supports the point she is looking to make. You'll notice a little further down in the article it also mentions that another "analyst" suggested that it cost 80 million.
I think most reasonable folks realize it probably did fall into the 100-300 million range when you consider not just development but advertisement as well. In any case, it's definitely a hit for the stock, but hey, why pass up the chance to have an epic thread? I mean who doesnt appreciate the drama?
MMO's up till now have had a budget of maximum 50-60 million dollars. Make that something more for TOR, sure, but 500 million dollars is beyond reason and borders on insanity. No MMORPG cost as much as the 10 most expensive MMO's of the past 10 years together. That's logic and reason for you >.>Besides, when you hire a voice actor, you don't need to hire it for months after months besides the major ones. Some can be finished within a few days.
Anyway, 500m dollars is simply beyond any common sense. In other cases I'd suspect someone of trolling, but I think the OP seriously believes it.
The most expensive ones would be the moderately well known voice actors, which would either mostly come from the US or the UK, and there are not many of them in SW:TOR. Employing over 800 voice actors would include voice jobs for random NPC/ambiance rabble. The pay for each one of those is laughably small, you're trying to make it sound like they paid top dollar for hundreds of high profile voice over talent when they didn't. Had they done that, it still wouldn't exceed 100-150 million for voice overs alone and that number is still really reaching.
A voice over job in most countries outside of the U.S. and the UK is significantly cheaper.
I took what was said by others in articles and said, "If it is true..." I didn't say - "it was true"...I said "if". If it is true, that might explain why EA's stocks are tanking.
Well guess what, unless you have a number that is solid...I'll say the game cost near 500 mil because that is what some others have speculated...even if it didn't and cost more like 250 mil...that would still explain why the stocks are tanking. I didn't just pull that number out of thin air. I am just going by what some poeple are speculating.
And because the 500 million supports the point she is looking to make. You'll notice a little further down in the article it also mentions that another "analyst" suggested that it cost 80 million.
I think most reasonable folks realize it probably did fall into the 100-300 million range when you consider not just development but advertisement as well. In any case, it's definitely a hit for the stock, but hey, why pass up the chance to have an epic thread? I mean who doesnt appreciate the drama?
Yeah, kinda this I guess.
+1NOt even close. This game is, according to BioWare, bigger and more expensive than every other game and DLC they've made COMBINED.
Think about it. Just in Chapter 1 of the 8 stories, that's 8 single player titles right there. Add in Chapter 2 and Chapter 3...
But here's the deal when it comes to numbers. EA put in $80 million into the MMO after they bought BioWare. EA also assumed $190 million in royalty advances owed to LucasArts from BioWare. Minimum is $270 million right there.
And we're not taking marketing, hardware, overhead, etc.
It's a big number. And $50 million doesn't come close. This game had 600 staff on it. A BIG developer, like Pandemic before EA shut it down, might have 200 staff and will be working on four projects during that time (like Pandemic was).
$50 million is a silly number. $500 million is a silly number. But the financials and terms of the deals don't lie. This game has a ton of money in it. It's not all EAs money. A big chunk of it came from Lucas Arts. But EA has to make that money good.
Swtor is still one of the most expensive mmorpgs ever created....you can call this TABULA RASA RELOADED just with a slower nose dive.
It is the same folks starting a BS thread, followed up by the same hate spammers to try legitimizing an obviously blown out the ass OP. How many yrs has this been going on now?
When they were talking 500M, it was including the cost of BW(Which was like 650M or so) factored in. Rather than putting the number into the context for which it was presented, it makes for better drama queen posting to ad lib it as a legit cost.
EA picked up BW, their IPs, and any future productions for that price. If all BW was going to ever do again was what had been produced, then the presentation of the OP would have merit. However, BW has released ME 2/ME3/DA/DA2 already besides TOR, and they will continue to make products going forward that EA wouldnt receive a dime on without the BW purchase.
But hell, who wants to deal with facts....make it a billion OP.
Asking Devs to make AAA sandbox titles is like trying to get fine dining on a McDonalds dollar menu budget.
Nah, I'd reckon it's something more like 150 - 200 million (This article here, for example, put the price at 200 mil). Most of the sensible estimates from people a bit more in the know are also in that range, and the statements from EA and Bioware leads one to believe it's nowhere near anything like, say, 300 mil.
Granted, this thing has more voice acting in it than The Sopranos, but I'd still be really surprised if it took anything like even a third of the game's cost.
Most people aren't aware of it, because the game does a lousy job of showing it off, but this is a huge game in all the senses it doesn't seem to count. :P A lot of big zones, a lot of artwork, a lot of story, a lot of music... So even the basics of MMO design could in total have cost more than the usual.