Naffets
Can't get enough of FH
- Joined
- Nov 25, 2004
- Messages
- 1,913
From IGN:
Huddle up! I want to talk a little bit about the business of creating big-name massively multiplayer games. Today Next-Generation dug up an Interplay investment proposition from November that talks about raising money for creating a Fallout MMO. If you're a fan like me, the very thought of it sends your heart fluttering. We've dreamed it before -- the Fallout universe is a perfect fit for an online game.
But let's roll up our sleeves and look at the numbers. The company wants to raise $75 million, with $5 mil set aside for pre-production, $40 mil for production and a launch budget of $30 million. Production would start in 2007 and the game would launch in 2010. The game is budgeted to have one million subscribers after one year, becoming profitable in year two. At first blush, it sounds like a lot of money. But is it?
Unfortunately, to my ears, it sounds a little overly ambitious. Interplay is basically a defunct company, so it would have to start recruiting talent from scratch. And MMOs are tricky, tricky beasts! Even existing companies with teams already in place average about four years to create a game. During that time, top talent, facilities, software, server farms, etc. are all a drain on resources -- and you can't make an MMO packed with content using a small team. Few companies release numbers, but most budgets after four years are probably much closer to $100 million.
Let's assume they make it happen, and the game launches in 2010. The plan is to get one million subscribers. But how many games have documented paid monthly subscribers numbering over one million? You wouldn't need a whole hand to count them: World of Warcraft, Lineage, and Lineage II. (I should note that there are dozens of Asian-developed MMOs that have more than a million users, but the micropayment model is very different than a monthly subscription model.) So even the numbers are blue-sky. Mind you, I'd love to see a Fallout MMO made, and I think it'd be successful, but if I had money to invest I wouldn't be too sure of this plan.
/end quote
Sounds good, maybe
Got me excited anyhow
Huddle up! I want to talk a little bit about the business of creating big-name massively multiplayer games. Today Next-Generation dug up an Interplay investment proposition from November that talks about raising money for creating a Fallout MMO. If you're a fan like me, the very thought of it sends your heart fluttering. We've dreamed it before -- the Fallout universe is a perfect fit for an online game.
But let's roll up our sleeves and look at the numbers. The company wants to raise $75 million, with $5 mil set aside for pre-production, $40 mil for production and a launch budget of $30 million. Production would start in 2007 and the game would launch in 2010. The game is budgeted to have one million subscribers after one year, becoming profitable in year two. At first blush, it sounds like a lot of money. But is it?
Unfortunately, to my ears, it sounds a little overly ambitious. Interplay is basically a defunct company, so it would have to start recruiting talent from scratch. And MMOs are tricky, tricky beasts! Even existing companies with teams already in place average about four years to create a game. During that time, top talent, facilities, software, server farms, etc. are all a drain on resources -- and you can't make an MMO packed with content using a small team. Few companies release numbers, but most budgets after four years are probably much closer to $100 million.
Let's assume they make it happen, and the game launches in 2010. The plan is to get one million subscribers. But how many games have documented paid monthly subscribers numbering over one million? You wouldn't need a whole hand to count them: World of Warcraft, Lineage, and Lineage II. (I should note that there are dozens of Asian-developed MMOs that have more than a million users, but the micropayment model is very different than a monthly subscription model.) So even the numbers are blue-sky. Mind you, I'd love to see a Fallout MMO made, and I think it'd be successful, but if I had money to invest I wouldn't be too sure of this plan.
/end quote
Sounds good, maybe
Got me excited anyhow
