Game Budgets Should Always Be Public

We now know how much The Last of Us Part 2 and Horizon Forbidden West cost, but that information shouldn't be secret anyway.

[__SteakDeck__]

I agree. It’s one of the things I like about Hollywood, compared to the games industry.

[Flawlessmic]

I mean I'd defs love to know how much each game cost to make and how much money it made back.

But I disagree with the writer whole heartedly, while it would be nice for discussions sake they are under no obligation to tell us any of that info.

They don't owe that info to anyone outside of need to know basis so it's bit ridiculous to say that it should be public info.

[__SteakDeck__]

@Flawlessmic Yeah idk why I got downvoted. This is the transparency that we should want in the industry. I agree that they shouldn’t be obligated to tell us. It would be nice to know though. What I really want to know, is how much games make.

[gold_drake]

this is off topic, but i love the way u edited your post. intended or not xD

[ChickenOfTheCaveMan]

Movie budgets are not public, it's estimates, rumors and industry leaks. They're never the actual numbers.

[Godmars290]

And rank and file devs should be treated and paid fairly, yet aren't.

[BrainSyphoned]

I think rank and file devs are rank and should be working as geek squad instead of doing shit work and complaining about how special it was.

"OMG my cubicle was so scary during covid, booohooohoooo, I need combat pay and a raise for the nothing I helped my company release."

[neomahi]

THIS IS ONE OF THE DUMBEST THINGS IVE HEARD THIS WEEK. WHY? Developers have no accountability to you. They're not a government entity. You don't pay taxes to them and, honestly, it's none of your business you nosey s.o.b.! What a bunch of KEVINS. The ONLY sense this argument would make, would be null-and-void because Kickstarter already makes sure that base is covered. That could be your ONLY right to know. The only exception I heard of this and it would've made sense is in the case of KINGDOM OF AMULAER on the PS3/360 where the government of Rhode Island (or one of the New England states, but I'm almost certain it was Rhode Island) actually funded a game to help the studio. THAT would absolutely need to be reported because that would be the citizens of Rhode Island's tax dollars fronting that project, you would absolutely have the right to know but, these development studios owe you nothing. What am absolute LEFT kind of a statement and expectation. Entitled dumbasshats..... Gosh, a bunch of friggin Kevin's. Right when you think you might be able to buy into the future of humanity, someone opens their fat sucker and spouts off garbage like this. Ergh.....

[Duke19]

Not ONCE when I was enjoying my play through of TLOU or Horizon did I think: man, this would be so much better if I knew how much this cost to make or how much money it made!

Gaming fanboys’ fascination around profitability and cost is so comical because well more than half the people reading this shit have zero idea what they are even looking at with it.

[SullysCigar]

You just pulled facts from your arse to push your preferred narrative.

I'm not too concerned about game budgets, beyond a passing interest - and I don't think we really need to know - but sales and profit definitely matter. That takes it beyond 'passing interest' territory and starts to indicate the likelihood of a sequel. I am concerned about that, particularly if I really enjoyed the game.

[Duke19]

You're right - its way closer to 100% of the folks on sites like this who would have ZERO ability to properly react to the little information they are presented with. All they want to do is compare "big number to little number".

You cant look at a reported dollar value and then suddenly think you know anything about the chances of a sequel coming. So thank you for proving my point

[EvertonFC]

"That takes it beyond 'passing interest' territory and starts to indicate the likelihood of a sequel"

Good point regarding whether a game gets a sequel ie; "Days Gone"

[SullysCigar]

^ @Duke19, so you literally just agreed you were talking crap in your OG comment and then proceeded to make up more crap to double down on your assumption, while at the same time ignoring my words. Sales and profitability are a good indication that a game has succeeded for the developer. This will increase the likelihood of a sequel being greenlit.

I never claimed it was the sole deciding factor, because it plainly isn't, I'm just trying to help you to understand why some of us find this information interesting. I disagree with the article, however, that devs should feel compelled to share budget data. Sales, critical and consumer acclaim, engagement and profitability are all information we are more accustomed to, and I'm fine with that as a high-level indicator as to the likely appetite to produce a sequel.

EDIT: @EvertonFC, exactly - good example. Days Gone was pulled apart by critics, consumers jumped on the bandwagon (there were legitimate technical issues for a few weeks) and early sales floundered as a result. Over time it was patched and became a much-loved game, but Sony was put off by the game's reception even before the devs put forward some dodgy ideas for a sequel.

[BrainSyphoned]

I'm not interested in extra excuses for lootboxes to be publicly available.

[EvertonFC]

WHY? I am neither for or against, but I just don`t see why they would need too? If anyone has any reasons why they should please explain.

[Hedstrom]

The argument beeing? Read the article and couldnt realy find one other than the authors i would like to know for own interest point of view.

[rob-GP]

Why? How will knowing how much a game cost to make benefit you at all?

Here's a better suggestion - how about all reviewers keep their trophies and achievements public, disclose how much of a game they've played before reviewing it, and how long they spent playing it.

As a gamer, that info is much more important than knowing how much a game cost to make.

[purple101]

Wow that's a great idea seriously.

And reviewers who didn't complete shit should get less clicks and their opinions not taken as gospel

[CBaoth]

In addition, no free copies provided to the site. Reviewers pay just like consumers. I never pre-order, rarely buy day 1's so a late review like this would be infinitely better than early, bought PR. Armed with this knowledge and the reviewer's trophy list and time spent reviewing it, we'd get some real info for a change.

[gold_drake]

huh why?

i dont rly care how much money they spend on making games.
i only cate about how much i have to spend on them lol

[Abear21]

I don’t see why this matters—big budgets can be squandered and don’t always equate to great games. I’d like to know where the actual money that funded the game came from…who invested, was it foreign funds, a bank loan (from which company, do they own the dev?), bitcoin, or kickstarter money?

[ChickenOfTheCaveMan]

I don't really get this obsession with budget of movies or video games for people with no skin in the game. Is it to justify a success or bash a failure even further? What's the point in that. Plenty of projects make great money but are bad, and plenty lose a bunch and are awesome and everything in between. Like AC Valhalla reached 20+M players but I hated it and quit after 5 hours, do I feel bad that it was a financial success? Nope, glad it reached an audience and most people liked it.

[Ra3030]

No....game budgets should not be public. Developers and Publishers are not using public money to make these games so it's no one business what a Publisher of Developer spends on making a game.

[Soy]

I mean, sure it's interesting, but only for a few minutes. I don't really care how much stuff costs - just hope games I love are profitable so I get more of them.

[jznrpg]

Why ? I just want to play good games. Unless you have your own money involved there is no reason they should tell you anything about their costs.

[northpaws]

Disagree, why does it matter? It just open a whole new can of worms of toxic discussion... "oh, you guys suck, you spent 20 millions more and the score is lower blah blah blah."

If the game is fun, then it is fun, end of story.