From the article, "Gameloft released Iron Man 3 for iOS and Android over the past 24 hours. This is a game the company has been hyping up lately through trailers. It’s an endless runner (or endless flyer) in which Iron Man has to fly, shoot and dodge for as long as he can. Failure is inevitable, but that’s something we’ve come to expect from the endless runner genre. Iron Man 3 is also free. That means in-game purchases are available, and since this is Gameloft we’re talking about, many were expecting this system to be abused. Shortly before the game’s release, we learned Gameloft sunk to a new low by introducing timers to the game. To get an idea of just how restrictive Gameloft decided to make Iron Man 3, I played the game for about an hour or so. Here’s what I found."
Yesterday, Activision confirmed their new IP Destiny’s development and marketing budget was to be $500 million.
That’s half a billion dollars to create and market a single game.
For a while now, video games have been rising inmainstream cultural relevance. Equal, if not more so, than that of the big screen. With games now reaching production and marketing costs rivalling that of Hollywood’s biggest blockbusters, can we now start comparing the two even more so than ever?
There are definite comparisons within the industries: movies have their theatre filling blockbusters, games have their AAA mega hits; both also have their small independent masterpieces that receive critical acclaim and boost the careers of all involved. But development, marketing and consumption of the two mediums are still very different.
I agree with you, that games have made it up to the level of Hollywood if not more with the recent 500 million budget for a single game alone.
At the very least it means devs are willing to spend that much - and that the funds are available.
Still a huge chasm in the way they're developed and marketed though. Will be an odd feeling when we see a game dev on Graham Norton plugging the next trip A.
Spending that much on development and marketing, that screams more and more bloat. It's kinda sad, when you know that lesser developers don't spend that much on quality games.
Something could be said for MMO's built for long term investment, but Destiny isn't an MMO. Even if it was, that amount of money would be headless.
If I was a company I'd much rather spend 500 mill on a movie than a game. A movie has so many opportunities to sell (theatres, disc, digital, rental, netflix, TV for decades). If a game flops there not much you can do to at least break even.
Iron Man 3 – The Official Game is no revelation. It’s not really original and its Tony Stark has few common things with Robert Downey Jr. On the other hand, it’s a solid infinite runner, with great graphics and exciting gameplay, and it contains lots of interesting stuff from the Iron Man universe.
AR: Quick question: who’s the best butler in fictional history?
Did someone say Geoffrey from Fresh Prince? Phenomenal pick. Wadsworth from Clue? You can almost NEVER go wrong with Tim Curry. Benson from Soap/Benson? He practically created a comic foil. Alfred? Spartacus? Lurch?
Well, I take all those and raise you one J.A.R.V.I.S.
I think I'm going to throw up...
Gameloft should of been worst company in america...
Wow Disney sure knows who can make a great licensed game. This show great potential for the Starwars license...
Dungeon Hunter 4 had so much potential, then about 30 minutes in you realise the micotransactions shoved in your face every loading screen and the difficultly spike if you don't use crystals to buy better items. Gameloft = pay to win!