According to the CEO of Activision Blizzard, Bobby Kotick, they’re prepared to take a chance and have $500 million ready to sink into the new Destiny IP. This investment sets Destiny up to be one of the most costly video game endeavors to date.

That figure is not just the cost of the development of Bungie’s new baby, but also accounts for “marketing, packaging, infrastructure support, royalties and other costs.” Even when including everything, this price tag is still monumental as it dwarfs the cost of the majority of video game budgets. It even towers over the money spent on most Hollywood films.

This investment makes more sense when the ten years of support is factored in. With Bungie having different events every day for ten years, it does sound like quite the investment would be needed to keep things running smoothly.

Normally an undertaking as costly as this with a fresh IP might be looked down upon. However, with Bungie’s name behind Destiny Activision Blizzard has high hopes that it won’t be an issue. The game would need to sell around 15.5 million copies to recoup the initial investment, but if the hype for the game indicates anything, it’s that it’s going to sell well. They may not expect this one title to make all of their money back but instead have Destiny be the seed for a very lucrative series.

My Opinion

Though the news this week has been at a trickle, the actual content of the news has been stellar. If we know anything about Activision Blizzard, it’s that they don’t seem to take many big chances. They’ve been putting out the same Call of Duty game for some time and making bank. That said, if they’re willing to sink $500 million into Destiny then they must have a hit on their hands. That’s a lot of money and they would be crazy if they dedicated that much to it without having a good amount of faith in what they’re putting out. Then again, it is a Bungie developed title, they’ve been to the rodeo quite a few times and they know what they’re doing and they do it well.

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Myles K Farrington is a new writer on the MONG team and a rather dapper fellow. Keep up with him over at IGN as well!