Unfair Calculation (Destiny)

by Hoovaloov, Tuesday, May 06, 2014, 00:53 (3863 days ago) @ Cody Miller

Wow that's confidence.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/05/06/activision-destiny-idUSL2N0NQ0E220140506

Wow.

"To break even, Activision would have to sell about 15 million to 16 million units of a $60 game, analysts said."

Ok this is clearly impossible (or rather extremely unlikely), so I have to ask where they expect the rest of the money is going to come from.

You are going to be gouged on DLC, I guarantee it.

I believe this is an unfair calculation. $500 million is what Activision is spending on Destiny, the franchise - not Destiny, the first game. They're investing heavily now on systems (i.e. Grognok), hardware, infrastructure, etc, which will make future games cheaper to develop.

"The spokesperson added that investment in the next generation engine and a "robust backend infrastructure are upfront expenditures that should reduce future product development costs."

"Over the long term, we expect the ultimate product costs to be roughly in line with other Triple-A titles."

It's silly to calculate how many copies Destiny 1 needs to sell in order to break even on a decade-long investment. That's similar to calculating how many tickets need to be sold in one season to break even on a new stadium.

(Although they better start advertising for Xbox soon or at least do an interview with Major Nelson or something; some people probably think it's Playstation only.)