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Ratchet PC port estimated cost $2.6M, expected sales 800K ($20M profit), Ports that cost under $30M require just email to Sony to get funding

dex3108

dex3108

Member
Oct 26, 2017
22,622
This is from Insomniac ransomware leak so please don't post any personal info or anything that can be tracked to any employee.

This is so far what was found about PC

Rift Apart PC port was estimated to cost $2.6m
The port took under 5 months to do
Insomniac figured they'd get 800k sales and make $20m profit (haven't found how much it ended up)
Ports that cost <$30m just need an email approval from Sony to get funded
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On top of that as expected Spider-Man 2 and Wolverine already have PC builds.
 
stopmrdomino

stopmrdomino

Member
Jun 25, 2023
4,476
Theswweet said:
It's shy of 5k reviews on Steam, so it hasn't made anywhere near 800k sales yet. Maybe it's tail will be good?
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r052zov4dc651.jpg


it's very fluffy
 
Slash

Slash

One Winged Slayer
Banned
Sep 12, 2018
9,859
1702963389756859.png

Ratchet apparently flopped while Miles made more than 3x its break-even point. Also, the future titles here are estimates (including SM2).
 

Ratuso

Member
Nov 27, 2021
1,196
God of War , Horizon and Spidey must have had crazy ROI given they performed very well on Steam.
 
Anth0ny

Anth0ny

Member
Oct 25, 2017
47,079
Slash said:
1702963389756859.png

Ratchet apparently flopped while Miles made more than 3x its break-even point. Also, the future titles here are estimates (including SM2).
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big marvel games cost more to make than big marvel movies these days. $300m budget is nuts, and the expected revenue is far lower than any spider-man movie would generate these days.
 
Liam Allen-Miller

Liam Allen-Miller

Member
Nov 2, 2017
6,816
Shibuya
SteamSpy currently has it pegged at 235k fwiw. Numbers are imprecise, but still a far cry from 800k. That said, this game will undoubtedly have a great tail when deeper sales happen and future hardware can keep up more easily.
 
RivalGT

RivalGT

Member
Dec 13, 2017
6,404
800k for an ip that's never been on PC seems rather high. I can see it hitting those figures but at a massively reduced price.
 
CommodoreKong

CommodoreKong

Member
Oct 25, 2017
7,714
Yeah 800k feels like a high goal for the PC version. I know other Sony games have done well on
PC but platforming usually isn't too big on PC and I dont think the Ratchet IP itself just isn't as appealing as some of the other Sony IP on PC.
 
Abrasion Test

Abrasion Test

Member
Oct 27, 2017
1,778
Mr Swine said:
Don't the Ratchet games sell well? Isn't that considered being a flop?
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I would guess for what they cost to make and the opportunity cost of other games Insomniac could be making…tough sell to get a green light from Sony.

Someone already posted the slide here but one look at that and you'd wonder why they'd even make another one.
 
Vanta Aurelius

Vanta Aurelius

Member
Oct 27, 2017
3,894
ATL
CommodoreKong said:
Yeah 800k feels like a high goal for the PC version. I know other Sony games have done well on
PC but platforming usually isn't too big on PC and I dont think the Ratchet IP itself just isn't as appealing as some of the other Sony IP on PC.
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Sony's strategy of launching the games years later, with bugs, for full price probably isn't a winning strategy. If they want to sell their games for full price, they'll likely need the momentum from the initial launch. I feel like the PC releases should only be delayed by a few months at most.

I guess this strategy works for certain titles, but using this release strategy universally probably isn't the right answer. A Bloodborne Remake for PC would do gangbusters though haha.
 
Conkerkid11

Conkerkid11

Avenger
Oct 25, 2017
13,969
unknown_nut said:
Could have just done Bloodborne and Ghost of Tsushima like many PC players have been begging for.
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Yeah, I was expecting Ghost of Tsushima to be next, but maybe they're waiting on the movie release or something like they did with The Last of Us?

Was really disappointed that Ratchet got ported first. I didn't really like the game at all.

Also, FromSoftware games are known to sell well on PC. The Demon's Souls remake came out 3 years ago. Port that too.
 
ThereAreFourNaan

ThereAreFourNaan

Member
Nov 8, 2017
13,124
PeakPointMatrix said:
Really. Guessing this was in the leaks? Well props to them for giving it another shot. I'm guessing the limited install base might have really hurt the original title, so hopefully breaking even isn't an issue by 2029.
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It's on a roadmap, although according to the staff allocation pyramid planning thing, it's a very modestly sized group and things that far away could change considerably, or be cancelled, or whatever.
 
GamerEDM

GamerEDM

Banned
May 7, 2020
2,290
As a PC gamer not buying your games unless they are day and date or at most 1 year out. Theres just to many good games coming out to put up being treated like a 2nd class citizen lol
 
Spinluck

Spinluck

▲ Legend ▲
Avenger
Oct 26, 2017
28,499
Chicago
I can't believe Ratchet flopped. I thought the game was solid and worth the price. Is this just overlap? I primarily game on PC but have the game on PS5. I might just double dip on a Steam sale so I can play it portably down the line.

I hope there doesn't come a time where only Nintendo, SEGA, and indies are the only ones making 3D platformers.

We already lost the Jak franchise, and the last Sly felt forever ago. I miss Sony platformers man, variety between Western and Japanese 3D platforms was always fun.
 
Mr Swine

Mr Swine

The Fallen
Oct 26, 2017
6,045
Sweden
Abrasion Test said:
I would guess for what they cost to make and the opportunity cost of other games Insomniac could be making…tough sell to get a green light from Sony.

Someone already posted the slide here but one look at that and you'd wonder why they'd even make another one.
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I'm thinking that Sony thought that this Ratchet & Clank game would be a hit seeing how well PS5 is selling.

I'm guessing that Insomniac will be a superhero studio for the considerable future?
 
CommodoreKong

CommodoreKong

Member
Oct 25, 2017
7,714
Vanta Aurelius said:
Sony's strategy of launching the games years later, with bugs, for full price probably isn't a winning strategy. If they want to sell their games for full price, they'll likely need the momentum from the initial launch. I feel like the PC releases should only be delayed by a few months at most.

I guess this strategy works for certain titles, but using this release strategy universally probably isn't the right answer. A Bloodborne Remake for PC would do gangbusters though haha.
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Oh yeah I agree. The years later port at full price is only going to work with a few IPs. I do think Sony would be better off launching day one on PC and using that marketing hype to move units.
 
scitek

scitek

Member
Oct 27, 2017
10,081
I'm willing to bet the success they've had with the Marvel stuff gives them the opportunity to work on something that may not be nearly as lucrative, but is a passion project of sorts. If that's Ratchet & Clank, then cool.

Not gonna lie, though, I kinda wish they'd remaster the Resistance trilogy, or outsource it to a studio that will.
 
SmartWaffles

SmartWaffles

Member
Nov 15, 2017
6,249
Weird that Sony still hasn't realized if you are porting over a series that was never on PC, people would expect you start with the first one or at least the most relevant entry. UC4 flopped for this reason and they did it again with Ratchet.
 
HK-47

HK-47

Member
Oct 25, 2017
5,597
I think Ratchet was not in a PC strong genre, plus a late port with no fanfare I feel and it came after Uncharted and Last of Us kinda took the shine off of the Sony ports. I'm not sure if porting 2016 first would have mattered and porting the older titles was just not in the cards.
 
ThereAreFourNaan

ThereAreFourNaan

Member
Nov 8, 2017
13,124
Spinluck said:
I can't believe Ratchet flopped. I thought the game was solid and worth the price. Is this just overlap? I primarily game on PC but have the game on PS5. I might just double dip on a Steam sale so I can play it portably down the line.

I hope there doesn't come a time where only Nintendo, SEGA, and indies are the only ones making 3D platformers.

We already lost the Jak franchise, and the last Sly felt forever ago. I miss Sony platformers man, variety between Western and Japanese 3D platforms was always fun.
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Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart was a $70 game exclusive to PS5 that came out about 6 months from that console's launch - which was supply constrained. R&C 2016 was a $40 game, for comparison, and launched 3 years into the PS4's life and had a tie-in movie the same year. Oh and it was a remake of the OG game which might have appealed to some nostalgia, too.

We actually saw a similar budget success -> full priced underperformer from another cartoon mascot platformer back in 2020. The Crash trilogy was a $40 title in 2017 and sold tremendously well, while Crash 4 came out in 2020 at $60 and underperformed. That one didn't have the excuse of limited install base, I think it was a combination of the product not being quite what the audience wanted, and people not wanting to pay full price for that 'kind' of game after getting the last one at a much lower price.
 
Cassius Africanus

Cassius Africanus

Member
Jun 5, 2023
2,560
Anth0ny said:
big marvel games cost more to make than big marvel movies these days. $300m budget is nuts, and the expected revenue is far lower than any spider-man movie would generate these days.
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I've been saying these big budget single player games are not the best return on investment. If they wer,e Sony would just keep making them because they have that market cornered. The need to get a better return on dev costs is what I estimate is the reason they pushed live service so much. That plus these single player games take 5 years to make money. It's ok for the mega blockbusters like God of War, Spider-man and The Last of Us, but I'm guessing everything else struggles a bit harder. Plus there is always a risk of a flop. I also think that's why Sony rereleases a bunch their games and don't usually give out free updates. They need more juice from the squeeze on these massive investments.
 
Spinluck

Spinluck

▲ Legend ▲
Avenger
Oct 26, 2017
28,499
Chicago
ThereAreFourNaan said:
Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart was a $70 game exclusive to PS5 that came out about 6 months from that console's launch - which was supply constrained. R&C 2016 was a $40 game, for comparison, and launched 3 years into the PS4's life and had a tie-in movie the same year. Oh and it was a remake of the OG game which might have appealed to some nostalgia, too.

We actually saw a similar budget success -> full priced underperformer from another cartoon mascot platformer back in 2020. The Crash trilogy was a $40 title in 2017 and sold tremendously well, while Crash 4 came out in 2020 at $60 and underperformed. That one didn't have the excuse of limited install base, I think it was a combination of the product not being quite what the audience wanted, and people not wanting to pay full price for that 'kind' of game after getting the last one at a much lower price.
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Yeah this actually makes sense now that I think about it. Platformers have been budgeted and sold at a much more accessible price recently now that I think about it. I wonder why they decided to go this hard for Ratchet.

I think Nintendo are the only ones who can really get away with charging that much for Mario while not worrying about making money back.
 
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