Witcher 3 - And the Budget Was ...

Kinda sad, that nowadays it's not possible to let the game speak for itself and you have to invest more into marketing than you invested in acutally making the game.
A great game, but still...
 
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its their choice. I think they wouldve ended an equal profit zone either way.

and probably with a same quality product )..

so, it was a sensible choice. lets get popular, we're not making this game anybetter )
 
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That number is pretty staggering, more than 60 million dollars. Damn. Add another 140 million or so and you could make a big budget movie. :)
 
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I won't lie that it's a bit strange that the budget for making the game is about the same as the budget for marketing.

I'm not exactly sure how it works though. The development costs in Poland are way lower than let's say, the UK or US, so the lower cost for the game is justified there i suppose.

Isn't marketing different though? I mean, you have to market it all over the globe and pay good money to companies everywhere to get the word out, make CGI trailers etc. It's not just Poland anymore and the prices in general differ a lot.
I don't know, i could be wrong.
 
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Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
Development 54M $
Marketing 163M $
 
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Seems par for the course for a big blockbuster game to me, to be honest. I bet Destiny (especially Destiny) and Evolve spent way more.
 
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Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
Development 54M $
Marketing 163M $

That is truly crazy. Having a 50-50 budget seems ok i guess but 3 times more for marketing seems bloody insane.

They say that GTA V cost around $250 million, if that is true i wonder how much of that went to marketing.
 
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That is truly crazy. Having a 50-50 budget seems ok i guess but 3 times more for marketing seems bloody insane.

They say that GTA V cost around $250 million, if that is true i wonder how much of that went to marketing.

Apparently GTA V made over 2 billion so whatever the amount is, its money well spent but crazy still.
 
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Takes a lot of marketing dollars to effectively reach the casuals.

But with 4 million units sold, you can bet that CDPR has already made their money back and more. Witcher 3 stands as a shining example of where the AAA scene should be right now.
 
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As someone pointed out their costs to develop in poland is less then the US/UK...so figure that when comparing costs to Modern warfare/call of duty.
 
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Takes a lot of marketing dollars to effectively reach the casuals.

But with 4 million units sold, you can bet that CDPR has already made their money back and more. Witcher 3 stands as a shining example of where the AAA scene should be right now.

Agree 100% - They have raised the bar in so many ways... it's hard to comprehend.

I'm about half way through my first playthrough, and have taken 100 hours in doing so... it's that bloody good - it deserves a massive marketing budget to get the word to as many people (even casuals) as possible.
 
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I just hope they spend less on marketing for cyberpunk or whatever they might release before that. They got their fame now so don't need to spend as much to reach their consumers.
 
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The difficulty I have is that for the cost of marketing they could develop another game altogether. Instead its lots of money thrown at TV stations for passive viewers to pickup.

The developers also probably do not see much of the direct benefits of the money but I wouldn't be surprised if the Marketing teams were living like kings. That is basically how it works at my company even though Marketing is really mostly middle men. (Yes I'm channeling my own company and bitter about it)

Cannot deny that it is effective but wish I lived in a world where it was not.
 
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Marketing and marketing costs have to exist.
Remember a few CGI trailers? Those were not cheap. I bet most of marketing millions went into them.

But seriously, a multiplatform AAA game of this quality (hell I have to make a proper thread about my thoughts) plus marketing took a total of 60 million only?
After threedigit figures that go up to quarter of a billion for other games, I just can't believe it. No wonder new releases are priced $100 (yea, the sum of the butchered basic part and cut outs) - how else to earn cash when one spent $200 million on marketing.

To quote Shryke with whom I'm agreeing 100%:
Witcher 3 stands as a shining example of where the AAA scene should be right now.
 
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Those are probably pretty modest numbers for a game of this size. I'm also imagining that preparing for and going to all those gaming events to promote their game in their own booth must be expensive.
 
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Takes a lot of marketing dollars to effectively reach the casuals.

But with 4 million units sold, you can bet that CDPR has already made their money back and more. Witcher 3 stands as a shining example of where the AAA scene should be right now.

Official word is that they broke even on day 1.
 
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I guess that explains why the graphics was better in the marketing than the actual game ?
 
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Marketing... I think I have to agree with Bill Hicks.

"By the way, if anyone here is in marketing or advertising…kill yourself. Thank you. Just planting seeds, planting seeds is all I'm doing. No joke here, really. Seriously, kill yourself, you have no rationalization for what you do, you are Satan's little helpers. Kill yourself, kill yourself, kill yourself now. Now, back to the show. Seriously, I know the marketing people: 'There's gonna be a joke comin' up.' There's no fuckin' joke. Suck a tail pipe, hang yourself…borrow a pistol from an NRA buddy, do something…rid the world of your evil fuckin' presence."
Bill Hicks
 
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