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[Draugoth]

https://zhejiang.chinatax.gov.cn/art/2024/10/8/art_17746_625645.html
​

We estimated that the total development cost of Black Myth: Wukong is more than 300 million RMB ($43M USD). In order to help the company enjoy tax incentives in a timely and correct manner, the Hangzhou tax department has established a long-term communication mechanism with the company to provide us with accurate guidance on the declaration of high-tech enterprises and the standardization of research and development expenses. The financial manager of Hangzhou Game Science Interactive Technology Co., Ltd., the game developer, said,

In 2023, Game Science will enjoy an additional deduction of more than 28 million RMB ($4M) for R&D expense

 

[XXL]

 

[TintoConCasera]

That's a small fraction of a Concord.

 

[Bartski]

 

[tommib]

What is this source? Weren’t they estimating 70 million before?

Anyway, the game is an unresponsive technical mess on PS5. It shows the lower budget.

 

[SlimySnake]

Spiderman 2 was $300 million. And they reused the same city for the third game in a row. Western devs are scamming everyone.

Pre-production began in 2018, and at peak earlier this year there were 264 developers working directly on the project, with an additional 116 contributing in the form of managers, IT staff, and other support roles. 314 minutes of cinematics alone cost over $40 million. The final cost was roughly $30 million over the original $270 million budget, according to the presentation, requiring the game to sell 7.2 million copies at full price to break even. The game had sold 6.1 million copies as of November 12.

What Hacked Files Tell Us About The Studio Behind Spider-Man 2

Internal documents show how a big PlayStation studio plans its future

kotaku.com

 

[James Sawyer Ford]

Chinese labor is a lot cheaper than western labor

 

[proandrad]

Ubisoft and Sony trying to figure out how to make triple A games for less than 50 million.

 

[tmlDan]

this is why all U.S. good are made in china

 

[James Sawyer Ford]

Ubisoft and Sony trying to figure out how to make triple A games for less than 50 million.

Outsource everything to China?

 

[tommib]

Black Myth: Wukong has become a global hit but it's not without controversy

China's first blockbuster video game has sold millions of copies in just days. It brings the classic Chinese tale Journey to the West to audiences worldwide. But its release has also sparked criticism.

www.abc.net.au

Black Myth: Wukong, a blockbuster action role-playing game, was produced by developer Game Science and cost a reported $75 million over its six-year development.

 

[Diseased Yak]

 

[Gamer_By_Proxy]

Cool, you made bank! Now put it on a good sale for us slackers

 

[Angry_Megalodon]

Black Myth: Wukong has become a global hit but it's not without controversy

China's first blockbuster video game has sold millions of copies in just days. It brings the classic Chinese tale Journey to the West to audiences worldwide. But its release has also sparked criticism.

www.abc.net.au

No western source should be trusted in anything related to this game, since they have demonstrated an active role in attempting to destroy the studio.

I will create a thread with the hundreds of bots in MC with 1 and 0 scores. Absolutely mental.

 

[Skifi28]

Shit, I could have funded that.

 

[GoldenEye98]

More AAA games from China incoming..

 

[tommib]

Spiderman 2 was $300 million. And they reused the same city for the third game in a row. Western devs are scamming everyone.

What Hacked Files Tell Us About The Studio Behind Spider-Man 2

Internal documents show how a big PlayStation studio plans its future

kotaku.com

The cities and the real estate Americans live in are scamming you all.

Are we comparing the cost of living in LA to China and corresponding salaries?

 

[HeisenbergFX4]

10 games like this vs 1 Concord

 

[tommib]

No western source should be trusted in anything related to this game, since they have demonstrated an active role in attempting to destroy the studio.

I will create a thread with the hundreds of bots in MC with 1 and 0 scores. Absolutely mental.

I still trust abc more than a screenshot on an OP without a source link. Call me a normie.

 

[lh032]

good for the company, bad for the devs .
Im pretty sure they have overworked with pea salaries.

 

[tkscz]

Spiderman 2 was $300 million. And they reused the same city for the third game in a row. Western devs are scamming everyone.

What Hacked Files Tell Us About The Studio Behind Spider-Man 2

Internal documents show how a big PlayStation studio plans its future

kotaku.com

This will never cease to amaze me in such a negative way. You have a staff of 380 people that can easily be split into smaller more focused groups that can create like three or four games at a time for a significantly lower cost. Whats more, the game engines are done, don't need to waste time creating a new engine (as just making the engine can take two years at the least). Spider-man 2 was a good game but $300 million is way overboard and WILL cause issues with future games. Hollywood is already feeling the burn of making movies with $150 million+ budgets, the AAA style of game will follow suit. This model just isn't sustainable.

 

[Herbspiceguy]

China is going to double down and make western AAA+ devs look like fools.

 

[AJUMP23]

What are Chinese Engineering or programing labor cost?

 

[proandrad]

Chinese labor is a lot cheaper than western labor

Definitely cheaper than California, perhaps it’s finally time to spread out the game industry. It would help bring in new people, ideas, and reduce a lot of the nonsense of that part of the country.

 

[RPCGamer]

This will never cease to amaze me in such a negative way. You have a staff of 380 people that can easily be split into smaller more focused groups that can create like three or four games at a time for a significantly lower cost. Whats more, the game engines are done, don't need to waste time creating a new engine (as just making the engine can take two years at the least). Spider-man 2 was a good game but $300 million is way overboard and WILL cause issues with future games. Hollywood is already feeling the burn of making movies with $150 million+ budgets, the AAA style of game will follow suit. This model just isn't sustainable.

It's been said over and over by people on the inside and outside, but those in charge never learn.

 

[tommib]

Outsource everything to China?

And then we complain there are no manufacturing jobs anymore… I blame Nixon.

 

[HerjansEagleFeeder]

Chinese labor is a lot cheaper than western labor

Sure, but when practically all other industries are doing this... why doesn't the games industry just produce their products over there? It's not like Western devs are magically more competent at programming or art creation.

Holy shit at those numbers, what a stark contrast to the likes of AssCreed and TLOU.

 

[LordOcidax]

 

[Msamy]

Meanwhile hirman hulst spent 100 times more than that in gaas and remasters flops

 

[Angry_Megalodon]

I still trust abc more than a screenshot on an OP without a source link. Call me a normie.

I'm assuming local Chinese authorities from the tax office have better knowledge than some random journo with an obvious agenda against the studio. More so considering that if that info is false, they might go straight to prison.

Anyway, even if it's 75, it shames most AAA games with a lesser scope and twice as much budget. It's about time to challenge the claim that AAA costs are "natural" to game development.

2018 GOW also cost around 50M. That's a reasonable budget. 200-300? Crazy stuff, obviously inflated, no matter the living costs.

 

[tommib]

I'm assuming local Chinese authorities from the tax office have better knowledge than some random journo with an obvious agenda against the studio. More so considering that if that info is false, they might go straight to prison.

Anyway, even if it's 75, it shames most AAA games with a lesser scope and twice as much budget. It's about time to challenge the claim that AAA costs are "natural" to game development.

2018 GOW also cost around 50M. That's a reasonable budget. 200-300? Crazy stuff, obviously inflated, no matter the living costs.

Did you read the abc article? What is the agenda?

 

[Sentenza]

More AAA games from China incoming..

Not a bad thing in the slightest.
Personally I'd welcome "AAA games" coming from ANY country with open arms. The more, the merrier.

 

[Magic Carpet]

And Chinese EV's are so cheap that the US has to put 100% Tariffs and the Chinese cars are still cheaper.
Sorry but I have to mention this in a Game Forum. But I can't buy a car for cheap anymore, I'm trapped living in the US where everything is now too expensive.
I'm about to pay my car insurance. 6 Months $989. Almost A Thousand Dollars for half a year. I've had the same car for over 8 years thats $16,000. I've spent on Insurance!
Thats more than the price of a BRAND NEW Chinese made car.
I could have gone without insurance crashed my car and outright bought a brand spankin new car instead of filing an insurance claim.

The West has gone full on Cuckoo for Coco Puffs

 

[tommib]

Not a bad thing in the slightest.
Personally I'd welcome "AAA games" coming from ANY country with open arms. The more, the merrier.

By the reasoning of some here, you can’t call 44 million AAA, right? Returnal cost 60 million and was considered an indie.

 

[Fbh]

That's pretty impressive.
Labor costs are obviously lower but I think a lot of western devs also have an issue with bloat and poor management.

Spiderman 2 was $300 million. And they reused the same city for the third game in a row. Western devs are scamming everyone.

What Hacked Files Tell Us About The Studio Behind Spider-Man 2

Internal documents show how a big PlayStation studio plans its future

kotaku.com

Miles Morales is a 7 hours game (12 ish if you do the sidequests) with lots of recycled assets and built on the bones of the first one and somehow it reportedly cost like170m

 

[Bernardougf]

Spiderman 2 was $300 million. And they reused the same city for the third game in a row. Western devs are scamming everyone.

What Hacked Files Tell Us About The Studio Behind Spider-Man 2

Internal documents show how a big PlayStation studio plans its future

kotaku.com

Thats a lot of soy lates and knitting classes experts

 

[Lambogenie]

Western budgets are unnecessarily high but it does also factor into local wages. So yes, please outsource. I'd rather Chinese propaganda in my games than Californian, if I have to pick.

 

[Schmendrick]

That's pretty impressive.
Labor costs are obviously lower but I think a lot of western devs also have an issue with bloat and poor management.



Miles Morales is a 7 hours game (12 ish if you do the sidequests) with lots of recycled assets and built on the bones of the first one and somehow it reportedly cost like170m

are those numbers with or without advertising budgets? After all those are often higher than the actual production costs nowadays and there is just no way that a small addon like Morales cost 170m just for the production......

 

[Fess]

Chinese labor is a lot cheaper than western labor

Yeah this is it. And US/UK/most of EU just can’t compete on this. The west can only make sure to always be better. Ain’t doing too well imo…

 

[tkscz]

It's been said over and over by people on the inside and outside, but those in charge never learn.

And it's not a difficult thing to see. They knew it would take at least 7.2 million units AT FULL PRICE to break even, the first game managed 9 million at full price which is barely over that and we know how many people wait for games to go on sale. Whats worse is they somehow went over budget and had to add $30 million more than normal. What caused that? Why did the cutscenes cost 14% of the budget alone? Whose managing all this spending?

 

[Felessan]

Sure, but when practically all other industries are doing this... why doesn't the games industry just produce their products over there?

They actually do. And also do outsource to India.
If you look to post game titles you'll see that work outsourced to a lot of companies and some of them in China/India.

Yeah this is it. And US/UK/most of EU just can’t compete on this. The west can only make sure to always be better. Ain’t doing too well imo…

Shanghai is costly.
I doubt that Europe, especially continental one, has significantly higher salaries compared to Shanghai (salaries in China very dependent on particular place)

 

[diffusionx]

It's not just a matter of Chinese salaries vs. US salaries. Lookk at all the initiatives and the massive bureaucracies at these US companies. You have to hire dozens if not hundreds of people that you don't have to China.

PS1 had staffs of like, 20 people, then a few at the publishing HQ. You could make a great PS2 game with 30-50 people. While you can't really do that with a great PS5 game, you probably don't need 2,000 people. So it's not just a matter of who you need to make content.

 

[Fake]

Wukong : 43M
Spider-Man 2: 300M
Concord: 400M
Skull and Bones: 850M


No wonder why so many layoffs.

 

[Alebrije]

Not only is labor cost lower in China but also think they are more efficient on developing and marketing costs.

 

[proandrad]

And it's not a difficult thing to see. They knew it would take at least 7.2 million units AT FULL PRICE to break even, the first game managed 9 million at full price which is barely over that and we know how many people wait for games to go on sale. Whats worse is they somehow went over budget and had to add $30 million more than normal. What caused that? Why did the cutscenes cost 14% of the budget alone? Whose managing all this spending?

The people in charge are morons and big budget games will continue to fail until the go broke. Assassin’s Creed mirage is probably cost a fraction of shadows is costing and sold at least 5 million units. But that isn’t good enough, they rather risk a game with a 200million budget thinking that will equal higher sales. It all comes down to corporate greed to increase shareholder wealth. Making some money isn’t good enough they want all of the money.

 

[Saber]

Skull & Bones be like:

Losers know nothing about being a AAAA.

 

[Rockman33]

Real question. Is it western devs are bloated and don’t use their time effectively or that western devs are just way too expensive compared to other countries?

IMO I feel like it’s a bit of both but more towards the devs salaries.

 

[Toons]

Real question. Is it western devs are bloated and don’t use their time effectively or that western devs are just way too expensive compared to other countries?

IMO I feel like it’s a bit of both but more towards the devs salaries.

No, China just doesn't pay their workers as much lol

 

[dragonyeuw]

And so far they've sold over 20 million and going? Hot damn.

 

[Ribi]

Sounds like China. Cheap ass labor + long hours = the studio is a sweatshop and Chinese game devs are dying every day just so the West can be happy. WAKE UP SHEEPLE! Where are the IGN articles about this human rights violation? Does IGN not think of Chinese people as people? Time to cancel IGN?