Ghostly on 31/7/2013 at 17:46
Thief - The Dark Project began its development in 1996 but I don't recall what month and later went full scale development in the following year, so I hope I'm not that wrong as I recall it had a budget of three million dollars and now that's quite straining in my opinion at its time, $3 million budget so in roughly two years developing time and Thief - The Dark Project went gold in 1998.
I have fairly often been wondering what kind of a budget you are looking at for a triple A game, and most importantly is there a fair way to compare with games of older prequels in Thief franchises.
So now that Thief 4 has been in what, roughly four years development correct me if I am wrong, and I understand its still in development but this is just for the sake of interesting numbers, my intention is solely just to have something to grind at, what would you estimate their budget to be once Thief 4 goes gold, once its over.
I've been guessing around numbers and thoughts like did their starting budget satisfy or if they did not (which I feel they completely neglected) scale their interest did it need more and etcetera, do you think we'll find out about exact numbers after Thief 4 has gone gold?
I have a rough guess on $35 million budget. :sweat:
Feel free to elaborate anything on the subject if you would like to chew onto it, a break from the usual rabble you might have about the game.
P.S. I do realise its quite early since its still in development.
Dia on 1/8/2013 at 14:09
I read somewhere, and damned if I can find the link, that EM has already spent over $300 million on T4, but have no idea what the original projected budget for the (travesty of a) game was. I'm rather curious to know what makes you think NuThief will even go 'gold'? That would depend on whether or not T4 was considered successful enough in its overall sales during, say, the first year after its release, right? I'd say $35 million would be a conservative guess, considering EM seems to enjoy spending big bucks on game development, though Squeenix may very well hit the brakes on any over-budget expenditures on T4 that EM may be inclined to do in the future. Like you said, it's still a little early yet.
I'm still choking on what T4 is becoming, so the thought of EM actually creating a 'gold' edition of this game is, well .....
I don't even .....
jay pettitt on 1/8/2013 at 14:29
That $300million figure sounds a tad sky high tbh, though it'd certainly explain why Eidos is haemorrhaging cash and considers shifting 3 million units in a couple of weeks disappointing (in contrast 5 months later Bioshock Infinite has just broken the 4 million sales barrier and everyone involved is happy as a sand boy)
Also I think gold refers to wrapped up, finished and sent to the publishers for, err, publishing - it's a reference to gold coloured master CDs. It's not a prize for selling x amount of copies like a platinum disc in the music biz or an enhanced edition like Thief Gold.
Whatever is going on, AAA games cost big bucks - and either EM need to step up the quality of the production or, if the product is good, step up the public relations ~ 'cos luke warm / mixed reception to what a lot of people might consider a high risk project ain't gonna cut it.
Dia on 1/8/2013 at 15:31
I guess I misunderstood the use of 'gold'. But I distinctly remember reading that one of the former T4 devs leaked the info that EM had already spent $300 million on the game, which was one of the reasons why Squeenix was getting a tad impatient with them. Just can't find the link now.
Vivian on 1/8/2013 at 15:38
For the record, from the (hard to find) game budgets I can see on google, HL2 cost 40 million and Dishonored cost around 25 million. So if they have actually spunked 300 million on it, that's absolutely ridiculous. I don't believe it. No-one would let them use up three times a big-budget hollywood movie's worth of funds.
Vae on 2/8/2013 at 02:13
The $300 million figure is incorrect...It would be in the 10's of millions...Right now, they're probably in for 30 or 40 mil.
Goldmoon Dawn on 2/8/2013 at 02:50
Quote Posted by Dia
I read somewhere, and damned if I can find the link, that EM has
already spent over $300 million on T4, but have no idea what the original projected budget for the (travesty of a) game was.
For what its worth...
Quote:
For the fiscal year ending March 31, 2013, Square Enix originally predicted a net profit of 3.5 billion yen ($37 million), but recently expected to report a net loss of 13 billion yen ($138 million). In reaction to what the company called an "extraordinary loss," company president Yoichi Wada has stepped down and will be replaced by CFO Yosuke Matsuda in June.
And the (
http://www.polygon.com/2013/4/26/4269912/thief-reboot-impeded-by-office-politics-high-level-departures) link.
Ghostly on 2/8/2013 at 08:19
Thanks for the link, now that's some numbers oh my.
To above posters, yes by gold it means that the gold "master" CD has been delivered for mass manufacturing and eventually ending up in stores, certainly doesn't mean award or enhanced version of the sort, the CD/DVD may as well still be bad content.
jay pettitt on 2/8/2013 at 10:53
It's numbers for the entire Square Enix group of course, not just Eidos Montreal.
Esme on 2/8/2013 at 11:51
Quote Posted by jay pettitt
...Also I think gold refers to wrapped up, finished and sent to the publishers for, err, publishing ...
Yep, every company I've worked for, when they released a final version of software it was burned on gold coloured master disks and usually referred to as a "gold standard", interim releases went on normal silver coloured ones.
