Devlopment costs for a PC based game. Has someone got some real figures please??

[Mikec87]

Hi Guys. I know this might sound like a strange question, but, just suppose you have to start from scratch and develop a racing game the same quality as rFactor2 for example. It would be licenced to a certain Australian series, just for example.

To go from scratch, hire all the people, good quality ones too, laser scan say 14 tracks at $75,000 each (there is $1,050,000) buy the licenceing etc. There would be a 18 month to 2 year time span to get it out I would guess.

The reason I ask is that someone feels that creating a game is not a big deal. This person is ignorant. They do not have the knowledge. I am not being rude. Ignorance is lack of knowledge. Only when combined with arrogance it is an issue.

This is not a silly question, I just hope that some one who knows a bit will help answer some question and fill the gaps. I am very curious.

Mike

 

[Ryan Vickery]

I don't think laser scanning 14 tracks at that level is a realistic goal, costs that high would likely put most smaller developers out of business. I realise that Iracing laser scan tracks but you're talking about a smaller scale of items, with each track, each car being sold seperate alongside a membership monthly fee.

For a 1 time price game that would have to include 14tracks, it would never be realistic. Codemasters did not laser scan the tracks for F1 2010, though they still did a great job, well detailed tracks (though not all are perfect, some corners at some tracks didnt seem right) but they look beautiful and the level of quality is very high.

Making a quality game these days is a big deal, if it isnt near perfect then people will grill it to its death, F1 2010 has taken an absolute beating, when in reality it is a great game, with its fair share of flaws il admit, but a few years ago it would have been dubbed a masterpiece. Expectations are really high these days so i think yes, making a game is a big deal if you want it to sell.