Cost to Develop a Game?

[jpr27]

I just wanted to know if anyone had a link to a breakdown on what costs are envolved with creating a console or PC game. Im looking for complete numbers breakdown on a project not the process to get a game in production.

In terms of cost for an rendering engine I would like pricing or estimates on liscensing to say mid lvl to high end engines. (Maybe Renderware up to say Ureal engine 2.5 or maybe 3 but (Im sure the latter is off the charts for liscensing costs).

Also about how much does a fps game about 15hrs of playtime cost in man power. Manpower consisting of around 25-45 people of necessary positions (coders, artists etc). About 2yrs of expected development time.

I know this is but a few items not including marketing etc. but rough estimates would appreciated. I have done searches and found some information but there is nothing associated with current to future costs of the next wave of gaming platforms.

Again if you know some numbers it would be great but links would be appreciated. Thanks all !

Also just to throw a number out there for a new franchise just starting would say 5-7 million dollars be in the ball park (dont laugh just a number Im throwing out there)

***There is no Luck...Only the Will and Desire to Succeed !!!***

 

[Richard]

Some numbers I've seen:

DOOM3 (peak of 25ppl - 4 years): 14million USD
HL2 (peak of ~70ppl - 5.5 years): 30million USD

I don't know if these include marketing but it's likely the second includes Steam overhead during that time.

 

[AlNom]

Fable was around $37 Million (off of their forums).

Halo 2... $20 Million? I think this one was a rumour...

 

[SsP45]

I think I read that Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory was around $10 million.
________
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[ZoinKs!]

I read $40 million for HL 2.

 

[ShootMyMonkey]

When I went to a conference in Austin, some guy from Bungie was saying that they hadn't worked it out yet, but they were projecting 18-19 million for Halo 2 -- that was about 7 months before Halo 2 came out, IIRC... and that Halo was around 12 million (I expect it might have been less if not for the fact that they started on Macs first, and then got bought by MS).

$40 million is also what I heard for HL2.

Also, I saw this one on the PA front page --
"One of my buddies was speaking to a high school class a few weeks ago about the game industry. After a few moments of disconnect, she asked the class what they thought the development cost of the last GTA game was. Most students thought it was around $500,000. She informed them that they were short about two zeros."