The most ridiculous moment in the FTC case so far came via a Sharpie. The case is examining whether 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Microsoft buying 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Activision Blizzard would be sufficiently bad enough for the competitiveness of the console market that it should be blocked, and it🤪 involves a lot of unsealed emails, a lot of redacted documents, and in one case, a not-quite redacted document.
The rhythm of the case has been pretty simple so far: a notable figure from Xbox or 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:PlayStation is called to the stand, the Xbox people punch themselves in the face by talking about how bad things are for poor old Xbox, the PlayStation people criticise Xbox for running the exact same playbook PlayStation has run for a decade, and then we see a sheet of paper with most of the text blacked out. Only yesterday, things didn't quite go to plan.
One of said documents revealed to the public had key information crossed out in Sharpie, only this particular pen must have been running dry, because the redaction didn't quite take. The document in question referred to 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Horizon Forbidden West and 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:The Last of Us Part 2, failing to obscure that Horizon Forbidden West cost $212 million to develop over five years with a staff of 300, while The Last Of Us Part 2 cost $220 million with an employee count of roughly 200. This was a highly embarrassing moment for the court, with all evidence pulled from record immediately, returning with far darker redactions, including to previous Xbox evidence wherein the company's recently revealed attempts to acquire different studios had many of the names blacked out.
These numbers are high, but when we think of the profits gaming makes (especially through live-service offerings, which both Horizon and TLOU have planned in their future), it lines up. It's on a par with movies, a business gaming sees itself going head to head with. The Flash cost $190 million. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 cost $250 million, as did The Little Mermaid. Fast X had a budget of $340 million, while Star Wars: The Force Awakens, officially the most expensive movie ever made, cost $447 million. But it's the future of gaming that causes a problem.
168澳洲幸运5开奖网:A lot of 🦂major mo🥂vies are having a poor summer. Asteroid City, No Hard Feelings, and Across the Spider-Verse, all significantly cheaper, crowded out The Flash, while Indiana Jones 5, with a budget of $295 million, is also set to lay an egg. But these studios will recover. The smash hits of M3GAN and Smile could see a pivot to high concepts, while No Hard Feelings going on a run could mean more star-led projects, especially if Barbie (a combination of both) enjoys the hot girl summer she's expected to have. Superhero movies might fade and become more spaced out, while blockbusters may tighten the reins, but overall, movie studios will take the bump and keep on trucking.
That's because movies can be produced with a far faster turnaround than games. If a movie misses, there's always the next one. There might be a board reshuffle and a tightening of belts, but if the next one's a hit then all is good again. Video games take far longer to make, and therefore big budgets are much riskier because there's not going to be another one right around the corner to catch you. The Flash failing will barely matter if Blue Beetle can make a modest $400-500 million off its $120 million budget. Games don't have that luxury.
There's also the matter that game development cycles and costs have traditionally doubled between console generations. With napkin maths, that suggests the next Horizon game will cost $424 million and take ten years to make. And if it flops, that's a decade burned. We are already living in this reality - Gotham Knights took nearly six years to develop, and can anyone tell me that it was worth it?
The failed redactions are minor embarrassments but Sony was openly discussing eight-fiꦺgure sums for development costs, so HFW and TLOU being in the $200 million ballpark is not a major surprise, even if it feels like 🔯Naughty Dog worked those dollars a little more. The problem is these development costs continue to spiral out of control, and mean every triple-A game is a huge risk with massive cash behind it. Modern gaming is unsustainable, and every shred of evidence from this trial has only highlighted that.
