Rockstar's Max Payne 3 Could Cost $105 Million to Develop, Requires 4 Million Sold

NotTheGuyYouKill said:
It'll sell that much on the Rockstar name alone. Come on, everyone knows that.

Warriors didn't do that well and Manhunt 2 sold pretty poorly didn't it? Sure that was also shit, but I just don't think the rockstar brand is enough for that kind of sales.
 
NotTheGuyYouKill said:
It'll sell that much on the Rockstar name alone. Come on, everyone knows that.

I don't know, they burnt more than a few people with Noire. People might be more cautious this time round...
 
ItWasMeantToBe19 said:
LA Noire did so well the studio no longer exists and it was far more like GTA than Max Payne 3 is.

the studio doesn't exist because everybody escaped from McNamara and Rockstar hated him so much that decided not to work with him again.

And then this shit went public.

edit: beaten
 
i rectract my comments about rockstar farrting on pc gaming, but rockstars devleopment method (aka constant overtime, treating their employees like shit) is pretty fucking horrible.
 
Multi-plat, Rstar on the box, and toss in some multiplayer and they could reach it. Red Dead did better than that right, and it came out in the summer?
 
ItWasMeantToBe19 said:
LA Noire did so well the studio no longer exists and it was far more like GTA than Max Payne 3 is. If:


GTA 4: 18m
RDR: 10m
LA Noire: 6m


Happened, I don't see why Max Payne 3 can't sell 3m or fewer. The more the games get away from GTA, the less they sell and Max Payne 3 has little to do with GTA.
Most people had no clue what sort of game L.A. Noire actually was and it wasn't even developed by R*.

RDR was thought by plenty to end up a complete bomb, but R* ended up killing it with a western in 2010.

The Max Payne name before release is more established than either of those. I'd be shocked if this doesn't sell way more than L.A. Noire.

BatmanBatmanBatman said:
Warriors didn't do that well and Manhunt 2 sold pretty poorly didn't it? Sure that was also shit, but I just don't think the rockstar brand is enough for that kind of sales.
Movie license game and trouble with an AO rating did those two in.
 
damn, had no idea that red dead sold that well. i don't pay attention to sales numbers. read dead was a brilliant game. i guess they may pull of the 4 million. but damn that sounds like a lot. only rockstar i guess.
 
Bungieware said:
Such a poorly-managed developer. If it wasn't for the Rockstar name they wouldn't even come close to selling that many units.
That's kind of a chicken or the egg conundrum. Rockstar's name sells games because their games are of exceptional quality, the games are of exceptional quality because Rockstar take forever and spend obscene amounts on them.
 
Er, this sounds like Rockstar all over. This year was LA Noire, last year was Red Dead, next year will be Max Payne. It'll continue R*'s trend of releasing a single game a year, and sweeping both critically and commercially.

Is 105 million a lot? Most major films cost more than that.
 
Green Scar said:
Er, this sounds like Rockstar all over. This year was LA Noire, last year was Red Dead, next year will be Max Payne. It'll continue R*'s trend of releasing a single game a year, and sweeping both critically and commercially.

Is 105 million a lot? Most major films cost more than that.

They also have more opportunities to make their money back. Cinema release, DVD/Blu-Ray release, VOD, TV rights, etc.
 
105m is unacceptably high. Mismanagement is a term that Rockstar has branded themselves with if this budget boom is true. I hope the game is damn good. I really like this dev but I question how they can let costs skyrocket like this.
 
angular graphics said:
This. These are not official numbers people!
The article doesn't even attempt to justify the 105 million budget. Where did they pull that from? Are any of the numbers in his chart actual or all hypothetical?

Makes me feel ashamed to have the word "Analyst" in my title.
 
Green Scar said:
Er, this sounds like Rockstar all over. This year was LA Noire, last year was Red Dead, next year will be Max Payne. It'll continue R*'s trend of releasing a single game a year, and sweeping both critically and commercially.

Is 105 million a lot? Most major films cost more than that.
the witcher 2 cost about $10 million dollars to make, although admittedly they are based in poland and it cost alot in their currency.
 
StuBurns said:
That's kind of a chicken or the egg conundrum. Rockstar's name sells games because their games are of exceptional quality, the games are of exceptional quality because Rockstar take forever and spend obscene amounts on them.

I see what your saying, but that's not 'chicken or the egg'. Chicken or the egg would be:

Rockstar's name sells games because their games are of exceptional quality, and the games are of exceptional quality because of the Rockstar name.

Now that doesn't really work.
 
Combichristoffersen said:
I guess 4 million shouldn't be too hard to pull off. It'll sell on brand name alone.

R* brand name? Maybe. MP brand name? Not a chance in hell. MP2 did pretty poorly if I'm not mistaken.

The real challenge for the game will be its linearity, R* games are almost always sandbox titles, those sell and it's something expect when they see a R* title. A triple A title set in a massive and unique open world, wonder how they'll go about advertising this...
 
Speedymanic said:
R* brand name? Maybe. MP brand name? Not a chance in hell. MP2 did pretty poorly if I'm not mistaken.
max payne 2 prob wasnt marketing like 3 will be. Guarantee every commercial and ad will state "From the makers of Grand Theft Auto and Red Dead Redemption"
 
Bungieware said:
I see what your saying, but that's not 'chicken or the egg'. Chicken or the egg would be:

Rockstar's name sells games because their games are of exceptional quality, and the games are of exceptional quality because of the Rockstar name.

Now that doesn't really work.
It just means you can't really say which came first. You said their games only sell this well because of the Rockstar name, but the Rockstar name only means something because their games are so good, and they can only be as good as they are because they sell so well. Really you're right though, it's not a mystery. They took a giant punt on GTA3, and from then on they've been able to do whatever they want. It's not a mystery.

Speaking of which, GTA5 will probably move twenty million units before fiscal '13. Rockstar don't need to be concerned of MP3, even if it doesn't make money, and it will.
 
I'm willing to bet Duke Nukem Forever cost more than MP3's budget, and yet Duke still made money. I don't know if it sold 4M but it sure sounded like it made money.

Anyone can feel free to correct me though. It's Rockstar, the figure sounds intimidating but I'm willing to bet it'll sell.
 
Speedymanic said:
R* brand name? Maybe. MP brand name? Not a chance in hell. MP2 did pretty poorly if I'm not mistaken.

The real challenge for the game will be its linearity, R* games are almost always sandbox titles, those sell and it's something expect when they see a R* title. A triple A title set in a massive and unique open world, wonder how they'll go about advertising this...
R* marketing of today is a little bit insane.

And don't forget "from the makers of Grand Theft Auto and Red Dead Redemption" on every commercial, internet ad, and bus poster.
 
Interesting thing in that profitability chart is that 30% of the profit goes to the Houser brothers and the rest ends up with Take-Two.
 
Speedymanic said:
R* brand name? Maybe. MP brand name? Not a chance in hell. MP2 did pretty poorly if I'm not mistaken.
But since the release of Max Payne 2, there was a box office blockbuster based on the franchise starring Marky Mark.
 
Lagspike_exe said:
ACCORDING TO AN ANALYST.
Yeah, my understanding is that MP3's budget is much lower than either LA Noire ($80+ million) or GTA4 ($100 million).
 
M-PG71C said:
I'm willing to bet Duke Nukem Forever cost more than MP3's budget, and yet Duke still made money. I don't know if it sold 4M but it sure sounded like it made money.

Anyone can feel free to correct me though. It's Rockstar, the figure sounds intimidating but I'm willing to bet it'll sell.


I think, whoever said Duke Nukem Forever made money, is forgetting about the 10 wasted years in development before 2K took over.


And just to chime in, I think Max Payne 3 will easily crack 4 million. Easily.
 
Meisadragon said:
Interesting thing in that profitability chart is that 30% of the profit goes to the Houser brothers and the rest ends up with Take-Two.
They must have 100s of millions each, at a minimum. Are they the richest people in the games industry? Isn't Gabe Newell a billionaire/multi millionaire?
 
If true would this be the most expensive game ever?
 
They know their GTA series will sell like an unholy shit storm, who needs to plan and manage things properly when you have a huge influx of $$$.
 
M-PG71C said:
I'm willing to bet Duke Nukem Forever cost more than MP3's budget, and yet Duke still made money. I don't know if it sold 4M but it sure sounded like it made money.

DNF "made money" to Gearbox and Take Two because they basically spent no money on it.

The bulk of the money over the years was spent by 3D Realms, and it ended up bankrupting them. Gearbox/TT only needed to "finish" the game.
 
105 million? What they did, hire Bruce Willis and Johnny Depp for voice acting?

Anyway, I'm waiting for the news how Rockstar tortured Max Payne 3 producers.
 
diffusionx said:
DNF "made money" to Gearbox and Take Two because they basically spent no money on it.

The bulk of the money over the years was spent by 3D Realms, and it ended up bankrupting them. Gearbox/TT only needed to "finish" the game.
Take Two made money post-3D Realms, that's true, but it wasn't cheap. It was still eighteen months of development they funded.
 
I can see how GTA 4 and RDR could cost so much. Those games are highly detailed sandbox games. But how in the hell has Max Payne ended up costing this much?
 
18-Volt said:
105 million? What they did, hire Bruce Willis and Johnny Depp for voice acting?

Anyway, I'm waiting for the news how Rockstar tortured Max Payne 3 producers.


I'm hoping it's a sign of polish, personally.
 
Look Rockstar, I know your games do very, very well but you seriously need to slow down with the whole 4+ years development and $100 million budgets. It simply isn't healthy. GTA IV was 100 million, Red Dead Redemption was probably nearly as high, L.A. Noire was famously overbudget, and now Max Payne is $105 million? I can't help but feel that once Rockstar has a single flop they could be on life support.
 
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