Destiny is the next big game for Activision, and the company wants to make sure that it succeeds. To do this, Activision is planning to spend a whopping $500 million in both development and marketing combined, making Destiny one of the most expensive video games in a long time.
Activision is no doubt taking a big bet on Destiny, since the game is a new IP and success is not made in stone. To break even, Activision will have to sell between 15 million and 16 million copies of the game. This is a possible outcome, but it won't be easy since Destiny will have to compete with Call of Duty, Activision's most popular franchise, Battlefield games from EA, and Halo from Microsoft.
You might be wondering how the cost of Destiny stacks up to other video games. Well, Destiny has dwarfed every other video game before it, and might do so for video games after it for a long time to come. The closest contender is Grand Theft Auto V with a total budget of $260 million; however, it might not be wise to compare two video games that are so different from each other.
"If you're making a $500 million bet you can't take that chance with someone else's IP," Activision CEO, Robert A. Kotick, told the Milken conference. "The stakes for us are getting bigger."
Bear in mind that Destiny's story is expected to span out for the next 10 years, so getting a good start from the first game is crucial to future successes. Still, we have to wonder whether or not Activision has gone well over its head with this one.
So far, things seem quite dim for Activision's big bet on Destiny. Early previews of the game have not been kind. One journalist went as far as to class Destiny as a title that is boring, while others claim the game brings nothing new to the genre, and is too much like Halo.
From the early previews, it is clear Activision, and Destiny's developer, Bungie, has a lot of work to do if they want to make this game the biggest first person shooter ever.
Activision will have a chance to show gamers why they should buy Destiny on September 9, when E3 comes around next month.
