The Witcher 3 cost $32M to make, $35M spent on marketing

New information has come out indicating that The Witcher 3 didn't cost as much to make as some might think.

[hello12]

No source for the information given on that site!

[mrbojingles]

There is a link in "come to light" embedded.

[Juegaloo]

thx

[Walker]

$67 million total sounds about right.

[mrbojingles]

I'd love to see more AAA games get closer to $50M or less. Maybe we'd see the return of the AA Mid-tier game!

[Concertoine]

The middle market is dead, sadly. Now we have indies or massive budget AAA games.

[UltraNova]

Wasn't Dishonored and Shadows of Mordor mid-tier?

Well, I'll have more of those please.

[CerealKiller]

The dollar is strong and the game is developed in Poland so when the development cost is translated to dollar it seems very low compared to if it was developed in the US.

[t-hall785]

i'm tryin to figure out why COD costs so much more and is a shit game(s) compared to this. perfect example of taking your time and doing it right. Kudos CD Projekt Red. Kudos.

[jackanderson1985]

activision have a bigger marketing machine (global advertising on a massive scale), they utilise big name talent (kevin spacey for example), cost of the discs (they do sell in excess of 20mil a year, that stuff adds up)

cost of the game is probably roughly the same, maybe a couple of mil difference but that could be anything due to developer costs (minimum wage in Poland considerably less than USA), time required to complete the game (short time, more overtime pay, increase costs)

also COD isn't a shit game... it's always well received, sells millions and has an online multiplayer that lasts a long long time.... if you don't like it fair enough, but it wouldn't still be going if it was shit

[t-hall785]

By shit i mean 3 different teams pretty much making the same game over and over. Can't say that about The Witcher...

[razorpakk]

This was a necessary campaign. With the two previous games, The Witcher was still occupying a niche, now Everybody loves Geralt.

Now they won't need to spend that much, everything coming from CDPR will be highly anticipated regardless.

P.S.

Let's not forget they own (well it's a bit different but let's not go there) GoG, this gives them a constant source of income. Not as ridicolous as Valve with Steam, but is the same idea that probably helps them taking risks.

[OB1Biker]

I don't think some VERY expensive looking trailers were really necessary though.

[razorpakk]

The Witcher 2, back in the day, was just as amazing as this last chapter, but all the fans felt like: how is nobody noticing what a great series they've created?

So I think every last bit of marketing money was justified.

[BassMan125]

Despite the graphics downgrade, what makes people attracted to this game? The beauty of each trailers they've released. Yes, the graphics is different, but the whole gameplay and action is still there.

[OB1Biker]

For example I love this trailer it really looks awesome but maybe not really necessary and a more classic trailer showing the game would have been enough
Now the way they spend their money is their problem

https://m.youtube.com/watch...

[Angainor7]

And to think, Shenmue back 1999 cost 80 million $..

[Wii_nes_007]

This guy is full of shit. Here's a Polish link where CDPR publically confirmed the total cost. I don't expect a lot of people toread Polish but it was $15 mill to make the game and $25 mill for marketing, $40 million total. Don't believe me just click the link. http://www.pb.pl/3169838,32... Here's the English link http://m.neogaf.com/showthr...

[BassMan125]

That article is from 2013. They have delayed the game twice since then, and delays mean the cost and marketing money could went up along the development phase.

[Wii_nes_007]

Seems like now a days journalists just make stuff up with no facts to back it up, makes me sick.

[Dario_DC]

This happens all the time, I've said it time and time again...
It doesn't make any sense these kind of ratios!
Why spend so much in marketing? Developers complain so much about the cost of developing AAA games and still spend more on marketing.... When some of these games only sell about 700k, who's gonna pay for the rest??
I'm glad that Witcher 3 sold well, day one buyer here, but there are a lot of games that this just doesn't happen at all...
This industry need to rethink the way they advertise their games!
Spending so much is just a way to go bankrupt... How many developers are gone because of this??
Not every game needs or must have this. Keeping costs low is a good way to keep these developers going.

[LifeInNZ]

Unfortunately to make up theses costs we get paid DLC and a digital only future, i.e. no second hand sales.

[Bolts]

They can't even make 1/4 of Destiny with that money. This game must really suck.

[Toiletsteak]

This game has more story in the opening credits then Destiny has in it's entire game.

[jrshankill]

Destiny?? hahahahahahahaha!!

[Bolts]

Sarcasm just doesn't work here I guess.

[shotime97]

they should have been much more worried about the game and telling us lies then the marketing

[Roccetarius]

Thanks to being multi-plat the costs are bloated as well, because you have to make deals with Microsoft / Sony. Had it been developed the same way as previously, i very much doubt the costs would've justified the excuse that it wasn't possible without consoles.

Had it not been developed for 3 things at the same time, we would most likely have played the game sooner.

[OC_MurphysLaw]

And thankfully they did make it multiplatform so all could enjoy together as they did a great job.

[OC_MurphysLaw]

So this game cost $67 million to make. Production costs and marketing costs all go to the bottom line...it took all that money to make and then sell 4 million copies of the game.

[IamTylerDurden1]

What ru trying to say? Do the math even if u count the entire cost as being 67m and if it only sells 4m lifetime which i'm sure it'll sell more than that, that is a good turnover roughly 240m at 173m profit...

32m to make the Witcher III for such a fine AAA quality game on 3 platforms nonetheless, they made this on budget. Do u realize how extravagant western studios get? Do u think Batman Arkham Knight cost less? How much do u think Bioshock Infinite cost on last gen no less?

[OC_MurphysLaw]

Actually I think we are on the same page. I think The Witcher 3 is something to be held up as a model of doing it well. Even at $67 million the scale, polish and scope of this game at that budget is fantastic.

[massapeal79]

They mad there money back no matter what

[Tornadobounce]

Jesus Christ.

[clouds5]

CDPR might be the studio that saves the gaming industry... Amazing games, no DRM, free dlc and they make huge profits.

[mochachino]

Hopefully when more people cut the cable cord and escape commercials they'll find new ways to market games.

I personally like video game commercials. Thats why i check them out on youtube. If Sony release a free Plus version with adds I'd use it.

[madjedi]

Well the next marketing tool is already here, youtube and at least with ps4 gameplay sharing.

You probably have more gamers browsing youtube than watching regular tv.

Publishers would be foolish to not try to take advantage of this much cheaper marketing option. By having some of the more popular/well known youtube lets player or personalities show off their games.

If nothing else get game development the hell away from California, or any other state with ridiculous cost of living expenses. And you would see budgets for games drop some.

[stragomccloud]

Wow. Well, I'm sure Witcher 3 will be like Nintendo's evergreen titles and will continue to sell over a very long period of time.

[VVgamer4lifeVV]

just got this game today at best buy by price matching target's Sale for $41.99.

[samchez77]

It'll be the best $41.99 you ever spent........

[crashtestnl]

Money well spend, its a great game.

[PurpHerbison]

I feel like I didn't see a single commercial or ad for this game.

[xXSilentXx]

No wonder Game Developers are going out of a job these days!

[Tzuno]

I'm not a expert but spending 35M $ only on marketing is just plain stupid.

[KaoSouL]

All that money on marketing and I've never seen one commercial.... Where exactly did they advertise?

[Manubiggs]

Saw the ad before Mad Max in the theatre

[samchez77]

everything about this game is amazingly efficient and done beautifully. from the cost of development, to the low-cost of hardware reqiurements to run it smooth on PC.

Certainly one of the best devs in the world at the moment.

GTA V was brilliant too, but that cost an incedible $500mil. So it should be.

[Flames76]

That's just sad all the way around and they wonder why developers are out of a job

[Bruno1886]

With this budget and such a small team(less than half of Gta 5 devs) CdProjekt made this game.WOW...Even Skyrim had $80-90M budget.Imagine what they could've accomplished if they had a budget like
Gta V($285M).

[DanteVFenris666]

What we need is sweat shop coders to get that price down

[Codewow]

No one trusts word of mouth anymore do they? I am pretty sure I found out about this game via word of mouth...

[Manubiggs]

Good word of mouth doesn't necessarily translate into massive sales unfortunately. AAA titles from the big names like EA, Activision, Ubisoft come with marketing budgets that make the Witcher 3 look like its on welfare.

[Doodleburger]

Figure on average people got the game for $50,counting pre orders and discounts, they've already made 3 times that amount in copies sold. So they're doing good. Maybe next time spend a little less on marketing, more on PR. So they can avoid another graphics problem.

[susanto1228]

Again....look deeper into the costs of making the Witcher 3...
They could of made a game built for PC's but it would of cost way more too make.

Higher Textures
more coding for graphical tweaks
HD texture packages

we begin to understand why they decided to keep the Witcher 3 downgraded for consoles =more money in their pockets

[kevnb]

money well spent, many people I know who never heard of the games before all of a sudden bought it.Im sure they arent the only ones, 4 million in 2 weeks are strong numbers.

[TXIDarkAvenger]

Honestly never saw even one commercial for this game. I'm so glad I bought it though, favourite single player game of 2015 so far.

[skratchy]

Hey, at least they've already made all that money back.

This is why peeps should support indies more. You can make an equally awesome game for a few hundred thousand, or less.

[Psytrix]

Coming from a marketing background, 35 million isn't bad at all - especially if that covers worldwide. You should see the marketing budgets on some blockbuster films.

It certainly helps that the game has had rave reviews and good word of mouth, but outside of strong gaming communities, most people are just unaware.

They want to target people who either didn't know about the game or were sitting on the fence - I think it was also important to focus a lot on brand identity and target market - which has paid off in leaps and bounds in a successful marketing campaign.

[assdan]

How did destiny cost 500 million?

[ChronoJoe]

Doesn't seem too expensive considering the number of platforms it was developed for, and all the voice acting, massive environments etc.

[Manubiggs]

It's hard to have an opinion about what the marketing costs should be for an AAA game unless we have the same comparison for other AAA games. What is the ratio of Marketing cost to dev cost for COD, Assassins Creed, Watchdogs, Destiny,

[Jimboms]

I bet they made far more than they spent, Rocstar model of working.