Star Citizen - Crytek Loses Lawsuit

This is probably the one crowdsourced project that has accumulated anything like a realistic budget for a video game. Living up to that is another matter. At least according to the StarCitizen Tracker, they are 12% complete.
 
Joined
Mar 22, 2012
Messages
5,599
Location
Seattle
I more or less predicted this. The lawsuit was desperate, but I was a little worried they'd manipulate the law in their favor.
 
This is probably the one crowdsourced project that has accumulated anything like a realistic budget for a video game. Living up to that is another matter. At least according to the StarCitizen Tracker, they are 12% complete.

Lots of crowdfunded games have managed to do well with smaller budgets.

In terms of the ambition of Star Citizen, I'd say 210 million dollars is tiny.

I'd put the final product closer to at least half a billion - if you were to look at the closest competitors. Of course, there are no close competitors - because there's no other game in existence that's going full-on enthusiast PC-only passion project.

There's literally nothing like this or close to it - anywhere in the history of gaming.

But in terms of the fidelity and scope - 210 million is really, really small.

Thankfully, they're in a position to spend the money 100% on development instead of marketing - so that's something.
 
Out of curiosity, how do they plan to found the other 300M?

What other 300M? I'm talking about how much I would expect the game to cost under normal circumstances.

For instance, Destiny had a budget of around 500M - and they spent a LOT of money on marketing.

Beyond that, the "ambition" of Destiny in terms of technology and gameplay evolution is tiny.

What Star Citizen is doing, is focusing money on R&D and actual development - and they're in a position to pioneer technology that no publisher would ever accept spending years on, with nothing much to show for it. This is finally paying off.

Beyond that, they're targeting a very specific kind of developer when hiring - with the understanding that passion for this kind of project is vital.

That said, I think Squadron 42 will generate a nice return - and there's no sign of the funding stopping any time soon.

I estimate Star Citizen MVP (or with full persistence and no more wipes) to be released in 2-3 years. By then, I wouldn't be surprised if they've reached 300+ million dollars.

This past year has shown a much faster and consistent release schedule - and with OCS - performance is at a point where the game can actually work as a satisfying experience, which is evident from an unusual positivity, even from certain sceptics.

So, it can only go up from here, really.
 
Destiny didn't have a budget of 500M or anywhere near it. That's just a number that got thrown out there once upon a time as the cost of the franchise as a whole, not even just talking about the first game.

Decent starting point here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_most_expensive_video_games_to_develop

Please don't pretend you actually know what the budget was.

Kotick himself claimed it was 500M and that was repeated by several sources, which is easy enough to Google.

Here:

https://www.gamespot.com/articles/a...00-million-for-bungie-s-destiny/1100-6419444/

I really have no idea what the exact budget actually was - and I don't know where Wiki gets its information from - but the claim of 140 million including marketing sounds like fabrication, considering we're talking about three huge AAA games that have received endless marketing and post-release content.

But, it's true it was for the entire franchise - which doesn't really change anything - as Destiny and Destiny 2 are nearly identical. I have no reason to believe Destiny 3 will be any different.

Even so, if we look at your list - we have GTA V with a total of 265 million dollars in terms of budget - and THAT game is still tiny in terms of ambition and scope if we compare it to Star Citizen - which is actually Star Citizen AND Squadron 42.

Squadron 42 alone could easily qualify for the 200 million dollars in terms of budget - and that's rather small compared to Star Citizen (the PU).

As I said, I would like to claim that if Star Citizen was developed under "normal circumstances" with a typical publisher financing it - the combined budget would be closer to 500 million dollars than the current 210 million dollars.
 
Please don't pretend you actually know what the budget was.
I know it wasn't anywhere near 500M, and that's not pretending. Part of the reason I know this is just common sense, and the other part is because Bungie, who actually made the game, told us:

https://www.gamespot.com/articles/destiny-budget-nowhere-near-500-million-bungie-says/1100-6420802/

Direct quote from Bungie, from above article: "the budget for Destiny, including associated marketing costs and pizza Wednesdays, is nowhere near 500 million dollars.”
 
Last edited:
Joined
Sep 26, 2007
Messages
3,836
I know it wasn't anywhere near 500M, and that's not pretending. Part of the reason I know this is just common sense, and the other part is because Bungie, who actually made the game, told us:

https://www.gamespot.com/articles/destiny-budget-nowhere-near-500-million-bungie-says/1100-6420802/

Direct quote from Bungie COO, from above article: "the budget for Destiny, including associated marketing costs and pizza Wednesdays, is nowhere near 500 million dollars.”

So, your quote from Bungie is more true than the Kotick quote who's the CEO of Activision and responsible FOR the financing and TO the shareholders?

Right. Point is that we don't actually know - and all we have is a bunch of quotes. But, I suspect you're still stuck on Destiny 1 - and not the franchise. That was always the confusion about the Destiny budget - and I've talked about this before around here.

Again, we're talking about the franchise - not Destiny 1 in a vacuum. Destiny 2 - as I said, is very, very close to Destiny 1. If I'm being kind - I'd call it a decent expansion pack.

None of that is relevant to my point, however. I just picked a title from memory that I know had a big budget. I could have picked anything.

That's why I switched to GTA V, to demonstrate that it's not about Destiny in particular.

My point is not about Destiny - but about the budgets for big AAA games in general and how games are usually financed, as opposed to how Star Citizen is financed - and the reason 210 million dollars isn't as big a number as it would seem in this case.

But, whatever.
 
Beyond that, they're targeting a very specific kind of developer when hiring - with the understanding that passion for this kind of project is vital.

Wow! That certainly is revolutionary. I thought game devs were all in it for the insanely high paychecks and fantastic benefits.
 
Joined
Oct 18, 2006
Messages
2,538
Location
USA
Wow! That certainly is revolutionary. I thought game devs were all in it for the insanely high paychecks and fantastic benefits.

That's like saying the cleaning lady must be passionate about cleaning the toilet, because it can't be the paycheck, right?

I'm sure everyone on the Underworld Ascendant and Shroud of the Avatar teams were full of passion and faith in the pioneering nature of what they were doing ;)

If you want to tell yourself all developers of all games are full of passion for what they're doing - be my guest. People also believe in Santa Claus, so why not ;)
 
FYI, Kotick's 500M was the price for the full package, that is:
- buying Bungie (the brand -->means: buying a bunch of Halo fans),
- buying Bungie (the company: an established team of professionals)
- pay for Microsoft (to let Bungie go, knowing certain Microsoft trade secrets),
- etc, etc, etc.
 
Joined
Mar 3, 2008
Messages
830
Suuuure :) They acquired Bungie (publishing deal) in 2010 - and Bungie split from Microsoft in 2007.

So, what's your source for the Destiny budget involving Microsoft trade secrets? ;)
 
Here are some details from Activision:

Bungie's COO Pete Parsons clarified that the game's development cost is not even close to $500 million, saying, "For marketing you'd have to ask Activision people, but for development costs, not anything close to $500 million."[42] Activision subsequently confirmed the $500 million figure, stating that marketing, up-front infrastructure costs, and investment in the game's engine were included, and could be amortized over the life of the IP.[43] Bungie would earn an additional $2.5 million bonus payout if the first game achieved a Metacritic score of 90 or above.[34][44]

It's pretty clear that none of us can know the exact details.

It's not clear, however, why we're going on about this - as it's still not relevant to my point.

But but - whatever floats your boat.
 
Suuuure :) So, what's your source for the Destiny budget involving Microsoft trade secrets? ;)

Ummm, working for MS as advisor on certain undisclosed topics for a while? ;)
Btw I've not said "Destiny budget" - I've said Activision paying 500M for Bungie.
 
Joined
Mar 3, 2008
Messages
830
I'm confused... looking at other stories, Crytek hasn't lost. The judge dismissed part of the complaint, but the suit itself is ongoing with other complaints.
 
Joined
Apr 12, 2015
Messages
60
Ummm, working for MS as advisor on certain undisclosed topics for a while? ;)
Btw I've not said "Destiny budget" - I've said Activision paying 500M for Bungie.

You should consider working for Fox News ;)

Activision didn't buy Bungie - they made a publishing deal with them.

Anyway, I have better things to do - so have fun!
 
I'm confused… looking at other stories, Crytek hasn't lost. The judge dismissed part of the complaint, but the suit itself is ongoing with other complaints.

There is no other complaints, amended complaint are not cumulative, they replace each others. The judge dismissed everything in the 2nd amended complaint, but allowed Crytek to amend for a 3rd time more to avoid an appeal than anything else. Outside of one point that was dismissed because Crytek failed to back it with facts 3 times in a row, everything else is pretty much final because it is based directly on the GLA.

In fact, the judge less or more reprimanded Crytek for cherry picking and twisting words of the GLA.

That's why people are saying that Crytek lost.
 
Joined
Oct 13, 2007
Messages
7,313
Yep its comparable to Shroud of the Avatar: Forsaken Virtues in how they manage to make millions every year off an unreleased game with microtransactions.

Wonder if it will end up in history as the most expansive game ever made?o_O

But isn't SotA just struggling onwards as we speak? And so far I have not seen them selling Christ Robert's blood or anything other dumb shit like that. :lol:

Besides if this turns out a successfull game, it could be something which takes us to an other era of pc gaming. Technical stuff these guys are doing never stops astonishing me.
 
Joined
Oct 19, 2006
Messages
2,481
Back
Top Bottom