How To Make More Cash From One Game Than 10 James Bond Films (bloomberg.com) 79
"Red Dead Redemption 2" broke records in its first three days on sale, pulling in more than $725 million in worldwide retail sales and achieving the biggest opening weekend in the history of entertainment, developer Rockstar Games announced. Here's a story from Bloomberg Businessweek that goes behind the scenes: In a compensation deal unique to the video-gaming industry, Sam and Dan Houser, the brothers responsible for Grand Theft Auto, will get the bulk of an expected $538 million in royalties Take-Two Interactive Software will pay to all employees for this year, according to an analyst. That's thanks in large part to their latest title, Red Dead Redemption II, due Friday. The British-born brothers and a few key insiders share half the profits of Rockstar Games, the Take-Two subsidiary that makes both titles, according to a lawsuit filed by a former employee. Last year, Take-Two distributed $383 million in what it called internal royalties. More than 2,000 Rockstar employees receive bonuses, a company spokesman said. Take-Two said its compensation programs allow employees to join in the success of software they help develop. The company declined to say how much of it went to the Housers. Gerrick Johnson of BMO Capital Markets estimated the brothers received the bulk.
"As long as Grand Theft Auto is chugging along, no one seems to care," Johnson said. The Housers' haul shows just how far video games have come since the days of Pong and Space Invaders. The industry is expected to bring in $138 billion this year, according to market researcher Newzoo. Red Dead II will sell at least 15 million copies by the end of the year, analysts said, at a retail price starting at $60 for the base package.
"As long as Grand Theft Auto is chugging along, no one seems to care," Johnson said. The Housers' haul shows just how far video games have come since the days of Pong and Space Invaders. The industry is expected to bring in $138 billion this year, according to market researcher Newzoo. Red Dead II will sell at least 15 million copies by the end of the year, analysts said, at a retail price starting at $60 for the base package.
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Someone's forgotten just how swiftly Rockstar crumbled in the wake of the Hot Coffee mod "controversy".
That wasn't an sjw thing that was an american sensibilities thing. Violence, swearing, racism is fine but a sex is a big no no. If it was and sjw thing they would've jacked the whole dating thing, or added a bunch of same sex or 52 different gender options or something.
Re: how? don't get 'woke' (Score:1)
No. We just don't like seeing everyone bend to the agenda of the loudest squeaky wheels. Want to be a snowflake? Be one. Be the best one you can be. But stop demanding everyone else think and act like you.
Pfffff (Score:5, Funny)
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go play Witcher 3, and see if you still have that opinion.
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World of Warcraft had soul. The soul of anyone who tried playing it.
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Real games stopped being made long ago. Games that had soul.
Like Interstate 76? Or do you mean something else by "soul?"
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Real games stopped being made long ago. Games that had soul.
There are still good games getting made but they are mostly lost in the noise these days.
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How To Make More Cash From One Game Than 10 James Bond Films
Back your claim up with numbers, adjusted for inflation. Note that the source is Bloomberg, who recently released the Chinese motherboard chip hack article.
The top 10 James Bond films, adjusted, got about 3.6 billion domestically combined. While the big boy Skyfall brought in $1.1 billion worldwide, it cost $200 million to make, at LEAST $200 million to advertise, and the studio gets only a small fraction of the ticket sales. Remember, it's not (1100 - 200 - 200) * percentage, it's 1100 * percentage - 200 - 200.
While the percentage take on ticket sales is larger in the foreign box office, that's changing. And the foreign box office is only really relevant f
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The top 10 James Bond films, adjusted, got about 3.6 billion domestically combined.
The comparison is on opening weekend. How much did they take on their opening weekends combined?
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I don't know, click the link and then click into each title and look it up.
My point is the AC's complaint is moot. Even if you take the TOP 10 James Bond films (by gross ticket sales), adjust for inflation, and add them up, we can easily demonstrate that a single video game can generate more profit.
I don't see why anyone would limit the idea to opening weekends, especially since video games are extremely front loaded and movies have a longer and bigger tail, especially if the foreign release comes after th
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My point is the AC's complaint is moot.
Agreed.
I don't see why anyone would limit the idea to opening weekends, especially since video games are extremely front loaded and movies have a longer and bigger tail, especially if the foreign release comes after the domestic release.
Evidence? Because I would expect video games to make more money than movies over time with DLC add-ons, and many PC players wait for Steam sales. Then again, developer profits from console game sales probably are more front-loaded and then shifts to used game resellers, so maybe the movie theater/home video/streaming cycle is longer and more profitable. But you can't do add-on DLC for movies though... A hit video game becomes a platform that can be expanded with DLC for more revenue, even if the ori
I'm not surprised, from the demos I saw.... (Score:5, Insightful)
Once in a while, game developers put together a "perfect storm". In this case, from the demos I saw, you've got a title that ticks a whole lot of boxes for people. First off, you're going with the Country Western theme; a genre that's stood the test of time, yet is underserved in the world of video games. (And look how often a game in this genre was little more than a fixed shooting gallery type offering, vs. an open world you could explore.)
Second, the graphics for this one looked excellent. Again, I think we've all seen our share of games that do a good job imagining space travel with various types of craft, or auto racing games. But there's something that still gets people's attention when you do a good job simulating animals like horses, running around the open land. (The Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt, did a pretty respectable job of this and I'm convinced it's one of things that made people "ooh" and "ah" over the title, propelling sales.)
It has pedigree too, coming from Rockstar Games. They've done so much with the GTA franchise over the years that you feel like you won't be let down by such things as poor quality acting/dialog, or a lack of interesting things to see and do in the virtual world they created for you.
As I've gotten older, I've gotten really selective about which games I'll buy or spend any time playing. I only have so much free time to waste on computer games, for starters. But I've also just gotten jaded, as a gamer from back in the 1980's through the present. So many games come out and just remind me of something else I played before, so I take a pass on them. I'd have to say this is one I'd put on my short list to consider buying, along with Fallout 76.
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I'd have to say this is one I'd put on my short list to consider buying, along with Fallout 76.
This game wasn't really on my radar, but maybe I'll check it out. After I get through the pile of other games that I have yet to play.
However, I'm not touching Fallout 76. They pretty much stripped out everything that I enjoy in a Fallout game to make an online shooter. I'm guessing that they were aiming for something like Destiny (which I haven't played, but am aware of) instead of a traditional Fallout game. Then again, Bethesda isn't very good at those and Fallout 4 was utter crap compared to New Vega
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Yep, same here. Fallout 76 will be the first Fallout game I won't buy.
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Bit off topic, but why aren't they releasing this on PC. I could see if it was on the 360 and PS3 as well, but it ain't
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Those above, and the fact the first RDR was a beloved game by those who played it. Bit off topic, but why aren't they releasing this on PC. I could see if it was on the 360 and PS3 as well, but it ain't
If I were a betting man I'd say you will see the PC version in Spring 2019.
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Modern games have drunk the koolaid and they all have "exclusives" now designed to sell consoles rather than sell the game itself.
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> but why aren't they releasing this on PC.
To (artificially) prop up sales on consoles. i.e. Pay if you wanna play.
It will probably come to PC a year later, much like GTA V.
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Nothing to do with piracy. They want people to buy on console and not on PC.
In a year a surprisingly large number of those console purchasers will buy a second copy on PC so that they can enjoy a superior gaming performance. Other PC gamers will buy the game and enjoy it for the first time.
Less cynically, there are enough differences between the platforms that there's sense in focussing the delivery team on the console releases and only after that turning their attention to the PC version. That lets them pa
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"To (artificially) prop up sales on consoles."
There are enough valid and compelling reasons to develop for console and not PC that I doubt that thought was even on the radar.
The first one that comes to mind would be that game development and testing is significantly faster, easier, and cheaper for consoles. The company only has to make it work well, make it look good, optimize it, and test it for one platform. They can bring the game to market faster at a lower cost, and if it's successful enough on console
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I wonder how overworked the development team was, and for how long.
And how much of that 7 million THEY are gonna get.
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I haven't played it but that doesn't match what I've heard about the game. I thought it was an "open world" type game in which you can explore and engage in shooting/punching at will.
That it also includes a linear primary story may explain your perception, but I strongly suspect that story can be engaged largely as the player chooses, with plenty of time spent doing other things in between.
How to make more money from 1 James Bond movie (Score:2, Interesting)
Than 10 video games. Pick 10 video games that made less than your movie to compare to.
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"responsible for Grand Theft Auto" WTF? (Score:3, Informative)
No they were not. Typical American bullshit history revisionism. Grand Theft Auto was conceived by Mike Dailly and the team at DMA Design, it had nothing to do with Rockstar Games back then, and just because they _currently_ own the franchise and the last inception of it, it does not mean two money-counters are "responsible" for it.
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Considering GTA came out in 97 and that bloomberg article says the brothers were hired by t2 in 98, probably just the reporter being lazy.
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The first two games barely count. The wins started with GTA III. I don't know if Mike Dailly did that or not, but, if not, that's the person. Maybe it's Don and Ben Houser
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No they were not. Typical American bullshit history revisionism. Grand Theft Auto was conceived by Mike Dailly and the team at DMA Design, it had nothing to do with Rockstar Games back then, and just because they _currently_ own the franchise and the last inception of it, it does not mean two money-counters are "responsible" for it.
Yep, I remember the original top down GTA which was quite good for its day (95 IIRC) and it was released by DMA. Rockstar bought them up later and they still produce GTA from their Scotland offices (as Rockstar North).
DMA also made Lemmings.
And more entertainment too (Score:2)
If you think about how long you could be playing this, you'd also get more pure hours of entertainment out of this game (and lots of other large scale games) than two James Bond films.
I didn't play the first Red Dead and probably will not play this one but it looks like they did a pretty impressive job. I wonder if they did riding as well as Horizon Zero Dawn did... I do like from videos I saw how you can fall off the horse.
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Two? Try 10.
Many players will get over 40 hours of entertainment from these games. Some will get several hundred.
Just imagine... (Score:2, Insightful)
How much they would have made if they didn't leave us PC users out in the cold.
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It might even be less, as infringing copies of the PC version would have substituted among some people for lawfully made copies of one of the console versions.
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That's bollocks. "This type of game.." like Mad Max, Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor, Saints Row or even GTA.
All have high and very profitable PC sales.
Expect to see RDR2 on PC next year, maybe 2020.
For me the bigger news (Score:2)
Video game makers need to unionize.
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Which is why they need to unionize. Leaders "take the risk" but the rank and file are the ones sacrificing their lives when crunch time comes.
> and the industry will be starved of talent
The industry is already starved of talent because of depressed salaries versus what people will pay you to make stupid web apps. The industry has been chewing up and spitting out fresh grads for the past 20 years. Show me a "lead developer" in the games industry with more than 15 years of experience, and I'll show you
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After a couple of years of promises to deal with the work-life balance issue I decided to quit the industry. All my colleagues seemed okay with the unpaid overtime though.
Sam and Dan Houser (Score:3)
Okay, be honest. How many people read those names as Sam and Dean?
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Supernatural reference.
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Okay, be honest. How many people read those names as Sam and Dean?
Nope [google.com]
Bad Comparison (Score:1)
guys, its not that much (Score:3, Insightful)
725 million, split among 2000 employees, assuming the game took 4 years to make, is only 90k per employee. This barely covers salaries.
Re:guys, its not that much (Score:4, Interesting)
Make a good game - ... (Score:2)
... make everybody happy *and* obscene amounts of cash on top of that.
Gee Wizz, who would've thunk that?
Extra bonus karma points for Rockstar execs who kick some EA officials in the balls at the next E3.