Don't forget to factor in paying employees and other expenses.
Just nitpicking :P
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Yeah, an entire 200 mil off that total to pay employees and other costs.. 73k on avg for game designers. 500 employees. Rounded up to 40 mil to account raises, bonuses, etc.. add 100 mil from the cost to make the game and 20 mil for any unaccounted costs. Still at 800 mil for servers. 25 mil off of 800 mil seems like pocket change.
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Subtract advertising, Activision's cut, retailers' cut, Sony and Microsoft's cut. That first $500 million surely went right back into Activision's pocket for the investment. We can also assume that cost of developing Vanilla Destiny was over the span of 3-5 years. Remember, they scrapped most of what they had to begin with. Then with the new dedicated servers, they would have to expand. There isn't likely room in that little Bellvue, WA building for another server room, so that is a lease or building of another location in a business district.
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That's what almost everyone forgets. These guys gotta get paid, have their benefits paid, they've got a team of lawyers on retainer and the electric bill. Shit man, they developed a complete physics and graphics engine and suite FROM THE GROUND UP. Not some turn key gig like Havok and Unreal. Shot in the dark guessory here. let's say each Bungie team member makes $26/hr, $54,080 gross salary a year. There's 500 of them. $27, 040,000. I would bet this is on the low end, too.
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Fūck off