Quote:Publisher Activision Blizzard is expecting its upcoming real-time strategy game StarCraft II to be a significant long-term success for the company -- and developer Blizzard has so much faith in the game that it has reportedly spent more than $100 million on it over the course of its production.
That figure comes from a Wall Street Journal piece based on an interview with Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick, although the Journal didn't explicitly state whether the total was obtained from Kotick or another source. Its budget likely includes a significant expenditure on the new version of online multiplayer service Battle.net, whose first showcase will be StarCraft II.
"There is no shortage of consumers for StarCraft," Kotick said. "For a game that is more than ten years old, there's millions of people still playing it." StarCraft launched in 1998, and along with its Brood War expansion has sold more than 11 million units worldwide on PC.
Although not announced until 2007, development of StarCraft II began in 2003; the game went into more dedicated production in 2005, following the release of World of Warcraft.
Kotick recently called StarCraft II, which launches on PC this month, one of Activision's "seven pillars of opportunity." More than half of those pillars are derived straight from Blizzard. Also on the list are the WarCraft franchise, whose World of Warcraft is one of Activision's key profit drivers; the Diablo franchise, whose third main entry may release next year; and an untitled MMO known to be in development at Blizzard.
Source:
http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/29485...illion.php
Looks like D3 might be coming out next yr.. and the all new WoW to be in development... interesting...
100million?
You can make a decent hollywood movie with that budget.
make lots and lots of porn better....
give me a game like SC that will be played for years over a hollywood blockbuster anyday
i'm actually more interested in the untitled MMO in development by blizzard
yea there are still people actually playing D2 and starcraft till today.. quite worth the investment i feel..
I believe Modern Warfare 2 has budget around 100+ million too.
Blizzard is really ingenious or plain risk! But looking at the success of StarCraft or all the other Blizzard games, there seem to be no worries.
A single Starcraft II game split into 3 campaigns and 3 different boxed game. Either the single player content is intensely packed or I don't know what else. Wings of Liberty, Heart of the Swarm (Zerg) and Legacy of the Void (Protoss)... They mentioned that the multiplayer would already be playable right?
Thumbs up on their business strategy if it works out!
They really know how to milk players and fans of their money.
I honestly find it disgusting.
Gone are those days of being a great developer alone.
Now they're a money grubber extreme after the success of WOW.
Normal boxed games need to be changed to make more money as well.
I think its something EA has been doing, just that blizzard is doing it in another different way.
Taking dragonage & Mass Effect 2 for example. Now we have to pay for extra characters/equipment/storylines. And these stuff are only good for barely an hour of gameplay. Its like paying for something which SHOULD have been part of the package.
In the past, expansions used to be REALLY enjoyable and most of the people didn't mind paying more for it. Eg. Baldurs Gate (Tales of the sword coast). It offers hours and hours of enjoyment, and comes with box and CD.
Hope SC2 expansions are worth the money. It should be much cheaper since full multi-player functions are already available in the main box. We are only buying the expansions for the single player missions.
(22-07-2010 12:20 PM)Feid Wrote: [ -> ]Taking dragonage & Mass Effect 2 for example.
spoken with truth... their 'expansions' or add-ons are worthless and u're paying like $20+ USD for something that will only keep u entertained for at most 2 hrs. Thankfully, I didn't need to pay a single cent...
