GTA Publisher: Game Development Getting More Expensive, Risky

Take-Two Interactive, which wholly owns Grand Theft Auto studio Rockstar Games, says that the games business is still growing, but that it's also becoming more expensive and risky.

[getrektedmate]

They sold more than 55 million copies of GTA 5 and yet they are complaining development is getting expensive? Wow just wow

[pompombrum]

And how many other games sell 55 million copies? How many other games have such a strong reputation among gamers and casuals alike as the GTA series? Most publishers don't have the luxury of such an established franchise.

[Bansai]

Then stop forking money out to the marketing department so much, we really don't need to see giant ads on buildings across the whole world to know I'm buying this or that.

[freshslicepizza]

without good marketing some games can potentially flop. people complained all the time of sony's lack of marketing for many of their games on the ps3 that didn't sell well.

i don't get why some people cannot connect the dots here. games cost more money to make than they used to. which translates to studios shutting down because they couldn't sell enough copies, less ip's due to risk factors, more dlc being sold, season passes now being sold, single player campaigns short, online tacked on.

then you have consumers who have this idea multiplayer games should not cost $60 even if the production costs are the same as a single player game. or they think all dlc content should have been included.

yet not one person can explain how because costs have risen that game prices and content should remain thw same.

[GreetingsfromCanada]

For starters gta v shipped 45 million and absolutely no other retail game comes close, but more importantly creating a modern AAA can easily cost over 100 million and with operating income for EA being only 120 million in 2013 1 game can make or break a company's year and stock price. Even making a new ip with AAA backing is very risky for the year's earnings.
Edit: If I'm not mistaken Take two (2k) posted losses for 3 years maybe more before GTA V came around.

[DougLord]

The kids on here don't get the business side of this. One guy actually called me a liar when I said games have gotten a lot more expensive. He said they cost just as much to make on PS2. The kids on here want to yell and scream about season passes and DLC, and pretend it's developer greed ignoring the fact that graphics teams are 10x what they used to be. You used to be able to make a game with 3 or 4 people in a basement. Now team sizes are HUNDREDS of people. And with used games and Steam, game prices fall faster then ever.

[Roccetarius]

If your modern AAA game can cost over 100 million, then something is terribly wrong with your budget.

[C-H-E-F]

I think they spent more money than it took to make Avatar to make GTAV... and Avatar took 10 years to make... That makes sense... if you want a game that is of QUALITY you will be dishing it out... GTAV is lucky to have a great reputation and track record... So if you have a new IP on a GTAV budget lets say uhh DESTINY... then you will see how 500 million dollars will not get you anywhere near that billion that GTAV made.

[SaveFerris]

Did he say NBA 2K bigger than Madden? Whoa.

[C-H-E-F]

pew pew

[_LarZen_]

Making AAA games is expensive and a big risk. It's therefor it's so refreshing to see Indie games that is relative cheep to produce and that is pushing gameplay more then these big AAA games.

[Pintheshadows]

Making a good indie is still expensive.

[Seafort]

CDProject RED disagrees. They made The Witcher 2 for $10.8 million. It's probably one of the best RPGs ever made.

It doesn't have to be expensive if they manage their budgets correctly.

[dreamoner]

It's cos living in their country is not expensive. They're paying less to their employees. Tho W3's budget should be more than 3x of W2, I'm thinking much more.

[Pintheshadows]

Oh, I don't disagree Seafort, but $10 million is still $10 million.

The problem is that most developers don't live within their means and go entirely over the top. This includes indies.

[_LarZen_]

Depends...but sure it can be. But not xxx million type of expensive :)

[Seafort]

It's only more expensive due to the marketing budget or lack there of.

Publishers spend much more on marketing than they do on the actual game development.

To me that is their problem if they want to spend $100mil+ on marketing but the customers shouldn't have to pay for their extravagances.

Increasing the price of games + DLC due to this expense is BS by the publishers.

No excuses can be made by the publishers that game development expenses has increased therefore it's riskier to make games now than it was. If they want to wine and dine gaming press, pay for TV adverts, billboards and pay off game reviewers for good reviews that's on them not the gamers.

[Lighter9]

You have to spend money to make money.

[dreamed]

They need to stop spending so much on PR then.

[Imalwaysright]

Strange because GTA5 doesn't look nowhere near as good as MGS and Kojima said that thev Fox engine engine allowed to reduce the development costs by 1/5 compared to last gen. Konami should definetely consider licensing the Fox Engine.

http://www.metalgearinforme...

[DanielGearSolid]

So Evolve flopped

[Tapani]

Hike up the game prices! Stop the crazy sale stuff.

I don't mind paying 10% more if the game is 10% better. But only if.

[SilentNegotiator]

Publishers are also getting super wasteful despite the rise of indie devs proving that you don't need 300+ people to make a good video game.

Of course, a game as expansive as GTA5 needs lots of people developing it, but there are a LOT of games with an unfathomable amount of people working on it that are not as big or even close.