Published May 15, 2014 by wallstcheatsheet.com. This article offers a pretty insightful perspective on Bungie and Activision's $500 million investment on Destiny. Well worth the full read: http://wallstcheatsheet.com/business/who-gets-rich-if-destiny-strikes-gold.html/?a=viewall A few standout quotes: [quote]The huge budget eclipses that of the second highest at $265 million, which is what developers spent bringing Grand Theft Auto V to life before its release last year. It also goes well beyond the most expensive movie ever made, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End, which clocked in at $300 million. Fronting half a billion dollars up front for an unproven, yet-to-be-released franchise is a big gamble on Activision’s part, but with the success of its past titles and the promising numbers Grand Theft Auto V put up, it may pay off for the company.[/quote] ------- [quote]The game’s budget of $500 million is monstrous, but it’s fair to say that Activision is no stranger to producing titles with huge costs. In 2009, the company released Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 at a cost of $200 million, which was the most expensive game ever produced at the time. The game paid off for Activision then, and the company has since replicated its success with yearly installments from a number of Call of Duty games. As Call of Duty has continued to put up impressive sales numbers year over year and revenues have piled up from titles like World of Warcraft, Activision probably feels confident in its ability to churn out another bestseller.[/quote] ------ [quote]The next question for the producers of Destiny is how they will define success upon releasing the game. With such huge start-up costs, it is estimated the game will need to sell between 15 million and 16 million copies to break even. At first glance, those figures appear to be quite intimidating. But look at the success of Grand Theft Auto V, which paid for itself before it was even released, thanks to a huge number of preorders. That title alone has gone on to generate roughly $2 billion in revenue while selling 33 million copies, according to IGN. The difference between Grand Theft Auto and Destiny is that GTA is a proven, successful franchise, while Destiny will be the new kid on the block. Another caveat is that the developers might not actually expect to make a big profit off of Destiny and are counting on the title to establish itself as a viable player in the gaming market. Activision hopes Destiny will achieve a lifespan of 10 years, citing plans to continue to update it for a decade past release. With hopes of establishing a title that can rival the likes of Call of Duty, Halo, and Grand Theft Auto, executives at Activision are better off projecting Destiny’s huge budget as an investment for the long haul, which, given the outlook so far, could pay off in spades.[/quote]