Did Halo Infinite really cost $500 Million?

[dusan]

There was an interesting rumors when the first Halo Infinite trailers, details explode and I guess we just never see the real answer.

Do you think this budget rumors was fake?

Ever since Bungie parted ways with Microsoft and the Halo franchise, Xbox's flagship series hasn't been the same. Halo 4, Halo 5, and The Master Chief Collection all failed to perform as well with critics as past games, and the latter suffered from severe technical issues for years.

Halo is Xbox's most important franchise, and so it makes sense for the company to go all out to ensure that the next game in the series, Halo Infinite, lives up to expectations and avoids the pitfalls of its predecessors. And a new rumor suggests that Microsoft and 343 are truly going all out for the next Halo, to the tune of a $500 million+ budget.

According to German website Xbox Dynasty, Halo Infinite's development budget is over $500 million, and that is for development costs alone. This would make Halo Infinite the most expensive video game project ever produced, with a larger budget than even Rockstar's Grand Theft Auto 5 and Red Dead Redemption 2.

Game producer Ralf Adam, who's not involved with Halo nor 343 Industries, has heard some interesting figures at the GDC 2019 and reported about it in a podcast by German outlet Xbox Dynasty.

"I heard the game with the by far most expensive budget that's in development right now is Halo. It has a development budget that's a multiple of Red Dead Redemption 2," he said

Click to shrink...

More,

https://gamerant.com/halo-infinite-news-budget-rumor

Halo Infinite Rumored To Have A $500 Million+ Development Budget

According to a new rumor, Halo Infinite could be building upon the biggest budget for a video game currently in the making. According to a new rumor, Halo

www.gamepur.com

 

[Broseph]

I'd be shocked if that was true. That's an insanely high cost compared to other massive games and I never got the vibe marketing was so high like GTA or even Cyberpunk

 

[Kabuki Waq]

Yikes not surprised. I mean right it feels like they have developed the game twice.

 

[Theorry]

If the only source is Xbox Dynasty then you probably shouldnt believe it

 

[Brandon]

I'd say it's likely between that and $250 million.

 

[Mr.fresh]

Maybe due to how long it was being made? I remember that E3 trailer from YEARS ago with Chief in a cloak in the desert.

 

[Theorry]

Maybe due to how long it was being made? I remember that E3 trailer from YEARS ago with Chief in a cloak in the desert.

Click to shrink...

Uhh thats Halo 5

 

[TheXbox]

Not a chance unless that figure includes post-launch support for some number of years.

 

[KennyLinder]

How long has it been in dev for ? 5+ years?

 

[Captain Tuttle]

Well they spent $500 million to market Kinect.

Kinect gets $500m marketing spend

Microsoft is setting aside a whopping $500m to market Kinect, according to reports. The platform holder recently claime…

www.eurogamer.net

That amount of money is a write-off for MS, they operate on a different scale

 

[IHaveIce]

Maybe due to how long it was being made? I remember that E3 trailer from YEARS ago with Chief in a cloak in the desert.

Click to shrink...

That was a trailer for Halo 5

 

[Sargerus]

Maybe due to how long it was being made? I remember that E3 trailer from YEARS ago with Chief in a cloak in the desert.

Click to shrink...

You mean Halo 5?

 

[Mr.Deadshot]

*Josef Fares laugh*

 

[Zebesian-X]

Guaranteed it was expensive by virtue of it being a modern AAA game but uh… yeah that sounds way too high

 

[Snake Eater]

I imagine there's a lot of outsourcing going on with this game

 

[Toumari]

Probably more with the 1 year delay.

 

[Deleted member 93062]

I doubt its true but even if it was, the budget is probably for the lifetime of the game. In Halo Infinite's case: 10 years. Do people really think a 2T company is just throwing 500M into largely a F2P game...? Especially Xbox which shuts down studios and games that go overbudget all the time (RIP Scalebound). Remember, this game was heavily developed by contractors that don't typically even get sponsored health care... Microsoft tries to do shit as cheap as possible, don't kid yourself.

 

[BadWolf]

If it had a rocky development then it's very much possible.

 

[Kolx]

If R* with their massive staff, outsourcing and marketing didn't spend 500m on GTA:V, then Halo infinite is no where near that number. Maybe if you count their 10 year support plan, but even then I doubt it.

 

[Dinjoralo]

Half a billion for one game is absurd. Especially for one that's really safe.
If that's for the whole ten year plan or whatever, I could see that.

 

[Sanka]

Definitely ain't showing it if they mean the base game and updates that follow near release.

 

[rare]

I would bet it's just like Destiny having a $500 million budget, it's just to cover costs for the next 5-10 years.
The MP is free to play for a reason.

 

[DontHateTheBacon]

Seems unlikely.

 

[Angie]

According to German website Xbox Dynasty, Halo Infinite's development budget is over $500 million, and that is for development costs alone

Click to shrink...

That would be insane. Even if they also building an engine at the same time, seems a bit too much.
But then again, no one here really knows.

 

[Hasney]

If there's any truth to this, I'm guessing it's over the lifetime of the game, which I'm guessing they're hoping will be at least 5 years.

 

[wolfshirt]

Holy shit.

How much is the marketing budget going to be??

 

[lamalande]

6 years in the making
with between 400 and 600 working on it (probably more this year when you look at the numbers of other studios working on it)
It'd probably get close to this $500m with the marketing included.

 

[DanielG123]

I've never believed that number since the day I read it. Half a billion dollars for one game, even if we take every single aspect into account, is ridiculous. I'm sure Infinite was/expensive to make, but surely not on that scale.

Maybe that's taking 343 and MS's 10 year roadmap into account, but I still have some big doubts.

 

[cartoon_soldier]

I am inclined to beleive it was fake Yes.

 

[Ambient]

Didn't they have a big marketing deal with Monster and other brands last year? That's not free and they'll have to do that again for run up to actual launch.

I am no expert so I can't say if that figure is accurate but no doubt it's probably been an expensive development.

 

[nekkid]

I could believe that being 343's overall budget during that time, but not exclusively Infinite.

 

[boi]

It will be the biggest Halo release ever so I believe it

 

[starfoxxxy]

.certainly doesn't look like a half a billion dollar game

 

[ShinobiOfTheWind]

I'm clearly forgetting the timeline of events, but didn't they reboot this sometime ago, after years of development, leading to exodus of some of their staff? They even wrote their new engine from scratch, after 5 was out.

This figure could be inflated, marketing and other miscellaneous costs, but I wouldn't bet it past MSFT. It's their flagship franchise, and THE face of Xbox.

 

[Deleted member 93062]

Activision is spending $500 million to make 'Destiny' the next 'Halo'

The Verge is about technology and how it makes us feel. Founded in 2011, we offer our audience everything from breaking news to reviews to award-winning features and investigations, on our site, in video, and in podcasts.

www.theverge.com

Probably similar to what Activison did with Destiny. It's not just for launch and marketing, but also for the next 5-10 years of the game including all the new seasons, expansions, and even more marketing.

 

[jschreier]

That number isn't very hard to believe. 750 people at $10,000/month (the ballpark average figure for burn rate, which might even be conservative by 2021 standards) is $90m/year. Add in outsourcing and marketing and the game is likely well above half a billion by now.

 

[Deleted member 93062]

That number isn't very hard to believe. 750 people at $10,000/month (the ballpark average figure for burn rate, which might even be conservative by 2021 standards) is $90m/year. Add in outsourcing and marketing and the game is likely well above half a billion by now.

Click to shrink...

Have 750 people been continuously working on it for the past 5-6 years? Or is this everyone involved, including contractors that have already left.

 

[abellwillring]

It's been in development for a very, very long time. I wouldn't doubt that being a real possibility.

 

[THE_W1TCHER]

Jason Schreier has this simple formula in his book for game development budget estimation.

Number of devs*number of month in development *$10k

If 800 people worked on Halo for 5 years, it would be in the $500m ballpark.



Edit: Well he himself posted about this above :D

 

[indosmoke]

I don't know if this figure is true or even realistic, but in any case the "dev" cost of Halo Infinite is taking into consideration the creation of a brand new game engine, no?
Just saying it's hard to compare with other games because of this.

 

[Masterspeed]

Are people forgetting they also made an entirely new engine for the game? Engines aren't cheap.

 

[Deleted member 93062]

Are people forgetting they also made an entirely new engine for the game? Engines aren't cheap.

Click to shrink...

AFAIK it's not an entirely new engine and it's based on the Blam! Engine.

 

[jschreier]

Have 750 people been continuously working on it for the past 5-6 years? Or is this everyone involved, including contractors that have already left.

Click to shrink...

There are 750 people at 343 currently. Safe to say the numbers have not stayed static year to year, no, but between 343 and the other studios that are involved, it's not hard to believe this kind of budget

 

[Deleted member 93062]

Jason Schreier have this simple formula in his book for game development budget estimation.

Number of devs*number of month in *$10k

If 800 people worked on Halo for 5 years, it would be in the $500m ballpark.

Click to shrink...

We would need to know how many people were working on it at one time on average. If we did your formula, TLOU2 was a 1.5B game to just develop. Also I find it hard to believe 800 people worked on the game for 5 years straight... It was at 750 in 2020 before it was supposed to launch, which I imagine was the highest it's ever been. The years before that it was probably substantially smaller.

 

[Dale Copper]

Man this is a Hail Mary Pass.

 

[Praedyth]

Yeah, it doesn't look like a $500M game but I can believe that number. I also think it must be even higher with the amount of people they brought in since that reveal.

 

[Dekim]

Building a new engine from the ground up
A 1 year delay

It may not be $500 million, but it cerainly isn't cheap

 

[ghostcrew]

I'd guess between $1 and $500 million

 

[Brood]

What a money sink.

 

[Deleted member 2752]

That amount of money is a write-off for MS, they operate on a different scale

Click to shrink...

No offense, but