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[ourumov]

IN TERMS OF CASH SPENT

Just wondering. I think it's either Shenmue or some Square game for sure...The Matrix also spend a lot of cash but the results were... well, I even doubt there were something.
I remember playing Shenmue and being amazed at ALL the work the game contained. From the tons and tons of tunes, to the various and varied buildings and locations, not to talk about the detailed pedestrians...Hard to believe that game was made by SEGA, at least the SEGA we are seeing those days.

 

[Aika'svyse]

The shenmue figure seems to have never been correctly nailed down, was it 75 million 50, million or 25?

The world may never know

 

[ourumov]

Shenmue is insane. You compare it with other free-roaming games such as GTA/The Getaway and you realize that the ammount of work done in Shenmue is way bigger. Specially in part 2.

Never been to Hong Kong (I hope I can change this someday in my life since I would like to live there for a time) but from what I have seen in photos and videos, the game's recreation of HK is very good.

I can understand this game is the biggest production ever in terms of cash...but I don't know for sure and that's why I ask.

 

[Speevy]

I wonder what the budget is for a big-time Nintendo game, or a game like RE4.

 

[Mama Smurf]

It'd be hard to say. I remember someone from Nintendo (Peter Main maybe?) saying Pikmin was the most expensive game Nintendo had ever made (I don't know if it still is), but you wouldn't necessarily think it looking at some of their other games.

So I guess that applies to other companies too. Except for the games with some info, we just can't tell.

 

[ourumov]

I don't think Nintendo has spent a lot of money on games such as Mario Sunshine or TWW, they even confirmed themselves.
RE4 sure was expensive but I doubt it reaches the level of games with "more content". I would say the budget spent was normal.

Looking at this gen the games that seem expensive to me would be those:

GT4
GTA San Andreas
MGS3
ZOE 2
FF XII
Halo 2
Fable
Metroid Prime

to name some.

 

[Mama Smurf]

Zelda and Mario were expensive games to make, you shouldn't think they weren't as the manpower and number of years in development alone ensure that, but the lack of voice acting and FMV etc obviously reduce costs over games like FF.

Though...I seem to recall Sunshine did have some FMV in it.

 

[Lionheart]

It could very well be a MMORPG. I mean some of those worlds are huge, the developers have to run lots of servers and most of those games are supported until years after their release.

 

[Sinatar]

Wing Commander IV had an absolutely HUGE budget for a computer game at that time, I'm sure its been majorly surpassed, but still it was a pretty epic undertaking.

 

[ourumov]

Zelda and Mario were expensive games to make, you shouldn't think they weren't as the manpower and number of years in development alone ensure that, but the lack of voice acting and FMV etc obviously reduce costs over games like FF.

Though...I seem to recall Sunshine did have some FMV in it.

I am not just looking at graphics but at the whole production process. It's hard to imagine how much a game like GT4 costs but aside all the standard development costs they spend a lot of time testing things in circuits with more than 200 vehicles. That's expensive
I think the most expensive game in GC is Metroid Prime for sure (not my favourite though)...May be wrong
It's hard to believe that Pikmin was that expensive...I enjoyed it a lot more than any other GC title (OMG I have to buy the 2nd one !) but it didn't seem so expensive...

 

[Mama Smurf]

Well Pikmin had been in development in some form ages before we ever knew about it, it was originally an N64 game.

And I didn't mention graphics. Well, I guess FMV, but just meant the cost of that (I understand it's expensive, especially if you farm it out as Square do...don't they?).

Why would Metroid Prime cost more than RE4 for example?

 

[Shaheed79]

I remember reading in Next Generation Magazine that it cost Nintendo 50 Million to develop Mario 64 because development started 5 years prior to release. So if Pikmin costed more to develop I can imagine the highest Nintendo game might have ran just under 80 Million or so. I'm almost sure I remember reading that Shenmue cost 90 Million to develop waaay back when Dreamcast first came out.

Sega and Nintendo are probably 2 of the biggest spenders as far as game budgets go but I don't think Konami and Capcom are that far behind with their MGS and RE franchises.

 

[ourumov]

Why would Metroid Prime cost more than RE4 for example?

Yeah I see your point. I haven't played RE4 (have to wait till March) but that's the feeling I have. Perhaps RE4 budget is 2x the Metroid one...I don't really know, I was just speculating. I started the thread to end with speculations

 

[SantaC]

Yeah I see your point. I haven't played RE4 (have to wait till March) but that's the feeling I have. Perhaps RE4 budget is 2x the Metroid one...I don't really know, I was just speculating. I started the thread to end with speculations

Since Capcom announced RE4 in 2001 or 2002 with 3 different iterations scrapped, I am pretty sure RE4 has had a higher cost.

 

[Mama Smurf]

Plus voice acting and two discs.

 

[gogogow]

Never been to Hong Kong (I hope I can change this someday in my life since I would like to live there for a time) but from what I have seen in photos and videos, the game's recreation of HK is very good..

Yes, the HK in Shenmue II was so real, ONLY IF the game took place in the 14th century.
Did HK exist back then?

SEGA did not research HK at all! Stupid!

 

[Defensor]

The Getaway

 

[SolidSnakex]

The Getaway definetly had a big price, but I still think its Shenmue that takes it overall.

 

[gogogow]

The Getaway project costs were around 6 million euros. Thats 7.800.000 dollars

 

[nightez]

It think its GT4 just the license fees would kill any publisher. It was said to be in the tens of millions for that game.

Most top games are around that figure nowadays Driver 3 cost £35 million and thats a game without license fees.

 

[gogogow]

what about Enter the matrix?

 

[Sinatar]

I'm sure the last couple of GTA games have had titanic budgets as well.

 

[explodet]

Getting the rights for "Welcome to the Jungle" ALONE must have cost Rockstar a pretty penny.

 

[Myoclonic Jerk]

Pac-Man

 

[Defensor]

The Getaway project costs were around 6 million euros. Thats 7.800.000 dollars

Wow, I just checked it out. Odd that The Getaway Black Monday's budget was around 20 million alone:

http://news.awn.com/index.php?ltype=cat&category1=Internet+and+Interactive&newsitem_no=12771

The sequel game, which ships Jan. 25, 2005, recreates 25 square miles of London's "Congestion Zone" and uses live actors for the game's central characters, utilizing them throughout the $20 million project's 18-month development schedule, which is rare for games.

 

[callous]

I didn't recognize anything from Shenmue II in Hong Kong when I was there this summer. Could be Shenmue II takes place only in parts I didn't visit, but that seems unlikely.

/tangent

 

[Unison]

Gamespot said Shenmue's budget was $70 million in their review of it.

 

[FortNinety]

How much did Final Fantasy VII cost at the time? I heard it was around 32,000,000. And was any money lost on account of the abandoned N64 version?

 

[gogogow]

no, the HK from Shenmue looks nothing like the real HK.
the one in Shenmue looks like the HK from 500 ago! The people, the clothes, about people being beheaded on the streets.....WTF....all bullshit!
Talking about back to the future!

 

[gogogow]

Wow, I just checked it out. Odd that The Getaway Black Monday's budget was around 20 million alone:

http://news.awn.com/index.php?ltype=cat&category1=Internet+and+Interactive&newsitem_no=12771

wow, really? 20 million for that crap game?
what a waste of money!

 

[border]

Guinness Book oF World Records lists Shenmue as the most expensive game.

http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/gwr5/content_pages/record.asp?recordid=53483

They say that it only cost 20 million though....and Final Fantasy titles usually run way higher. There's always been a ton of numbers thrown around about Shenmue's budget, and it's never really clear whether the big ones are just for the first game, or for the entire project...

 

[ourumov]

Yes, the HK in Shenmue II was so real, ONLY IF the game took place in the 14th century.
Did HK exist back then?

SEGA did not research HK at all! Stupid!

Nice to know there are inteligent posters like you to correct us and call us stupids. Thanks. BTW:

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As I said I have never been to HK but the game definitelly looked like if you were in HK or at least what people in my country picture about HK...I don't know each street hand by hand as you probably do sir.

 

[bigNman]

When 64 magazine reviewed Ocarina Of Time they said it cost 14 million pounds to make which was about 20 million dollars back in the day before the dollar got puny.

 

[gogogow]

Nice to know there are inteligent posters like you to correct us and call us stupids. Thanks. BTW:



As I said I have never been to HK but the game definitelly looked like if you were in HK or at least what people in my country picture about HK...I don't know each street hand by hand as you probably do sir.

I meant SEGA was stupid by using 20 mil to create a game without doing research.
So, it means the stupid was meant for SEGA not for you.
I hope u understand now, sir! Thank you.

btw. Just read any random thread and they call eachother g*y, b*tch, f*cker, *ssholes and whatnot, so what's the big deal about the word "stupid", that's not even meant for you?

 

[ourumov]

Ah sorry. I beg you forgive me. English is not my native language. Sorry, really .

 

[FeedMeAStrayCat]

Pac-Man

I'd go for Ms. Pac-Man because of the added cost of the bow, obviously.

 

[teruterubozu]

I would say it has to be Enter the Matrix in a roundabout way.

Infogrames paid Interplay $47 million to acquire Shiny right before Infogrames made Atari their global brand name.

47 million just to get someone to do a Matrix game!!!!

Now add dev costs, Matrix license, Dave Perry's expenses, etc.

Shiny has only made that one game for Atari so far (I guess a 2nd one is on the way).

Nice $47 million investment....

 

[Broshnat]

Pac-Man

:lol

Hahahahahahaha!!

Get this guy an award

:lol

 

[xexex]

Shenmue. that includes part I and II

 

[Tim]

from

guinnessworldrecords.com:

Most Expensive Computer Game Development
The Dreamcast computer game titled Shenmue cost over $20 million to develop. The project took seven years to complete, and was the brainchild of Japanese developer Yu Suzuki, head of Sega's game-development AM2 division.

 

[Woch [Eol]]

I've always heard that Shenmue (probably 2nd game) is the most expensive videogame in terms of development. Ourumov, sure it's between Shenmue and Shenmue 2...

 

[Date of Lies]

I've always heard that Shenmue (probably 2nd game) is the most expensive videogame in terms of development. Ourumov, sure it's between Shenmue and Shenmue 2...

But shenmue 2 would have already had the engine to reuse, so it shoudn't have cost more.

 

[Azelover]

Shenmue cost 7 billion yen(aprox. 65 million dollars at the time). I think FFX comes second with about 45 million cost.

Whoever said AM2 didn't research Hong Kong must be fucking kidding. Yu Suzuki researched China for more than three years before work on Shenmue started in 1996.

Shenmue was such a huge thing in every possible level for Yu Suzuki, he had invisioned it ever since he graduated college. It's so sad it didn't work so well.

 

[Die Squirrel Die]

The Shenmue conundrum isn't that difficult to work out if you've followed it throughout it's development. Sega did release a bunch of PR about it's cost although good luck finding them now. From what I remember, which I'll wager is a lot more accurate than most of the stuff I remember, mostly because I seem to have repeatedly posted it many times over at GAF throughout the years.

- The cost for the first game was $20 million, as has been stated. In addition to that however was the cost of translation into English and marketing in the US, which pushed the figure for the first game up to $30 million. Not sure what the Euro marketing budget was, but I can't imagine it was that much, I don't think they did TV ads at all for it.

- The $70 million figure, which many consider the cost for the first game only, was in fact Sega's estimated cost to do the entire series. This would have amounted to 4 or 5 games, released over the DCs lifespan (had it had the usual 5 or so years). I seem to remember the press release being a bit ambigious as to whether it was 4 games in total or the first game and 4 sequels, for a total of 5 games. This figure only covered the costs of the game development, not translation/marketing, so $20 mill for the first game, $10-$12.5 mill for the subsequent games.

 

[Sho Nuff]

Shenmue, Shenmue, Shenmue. They friggin finished 1 and 2 on the damn Saturn then restarted it from scratch!

 

[Date of Lies]

Shenmue, Shenmue, Shenmue. They friggin finished 1 and 2 on the damn Saturn then restarted it from scratch!

wow, did that ever get leaked?

 

[pkasho]

I didn't recognize anything from Shenmue II in Hong Kong when I was there this summer. Could be Shenmue II takes place only in parts I didn't visit, but that seems unlikely.

/tangent

IIRC the game took place in 1986/1987-ish, which means if you went there this summer you were (2004-1987) 17 years late to see if they really recreated HK properly.

Go to the poorer/older regions in HK and you could see the resemblance~

 

[stonedwal]

Wing Commander IV had an absolutely HUGE budget for a computer game at that time, I'm sure its been majorly surpassed, but still it was a pretty epic undertaking.

I think it's still the most expensive PC title (Half-life 2 supposedly cost in the $30M range, but that includes Steam) at $10M, up from $3M for Wing Commander 3, but that's due to the fact Chris Roberts wanted to use sets instead of green screens.

wow, did that ever get leaked?

You get a video of it when you finish Shenmue II.

 

[Ryudo]

Surely DNF or daikitana deserve a mention ?

 

[Kuro Madoushi]

CHECK THIS OUT…If aliens came down and kidnapped Suzuki and he could only take one game with him, guess what it would be? Mah-jongg (the ancient Japanese tile-matching game), which is the only game in the world more complex

OK, I'll concede that Shenmue was the most expensive game to have ever been produced...but is Mah-Jongg Japanese? I always thought it was Chinese...