Live data from Hacker News

Grand Theft Auto V Earns $800 Million in a Day

variety.com

141–150 of 178 posts

Re: Grand Theft Auto V Earns $800 Million in a Day

#141
post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Kind of surprised that marketing cost them more than development ($115m vs $150m). Kinda depressing, considering how game developers are typically underpaid and overworked... But as long as people are willing to put up with it, it's going to continue.

> game developers are typically underpaid and overworked And marketing people aren't? I'm a game developer, and it depresses me how much undeserved hatred and contempt "suits" get form us "technical" guys. We work hard to make something, and they work hard to get it to the people. If you don't like the idea that games like GTAV should be advertised in order to get the money they deserve (and I think no one here disag…

Ok let's just ignore the argument of whether marketing people or developers work harder (which, personally, having worked in both sides, I don't think is even a question.) And let's also ignore the argument of whether marketing departments contribute positively to society as compared to development departments.

Let's just look at it logically; the budget dedicated to development determines the quality and quantity of what can be created. If you have a finite pool and 50% is going to marketing then logically you're going to get a lesser product than if you put say, 75% in development and 25% in marketing.

So yeah, that's sad. You don't even need to get into who works harder, etc.

Re: Grand Theft Auto V Earns $800 Million in a Day

#142

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Man, you have swallowed every last drop of the koolaid they're selling you. Consider this situation: You've spent most of your life training yourself as a game developer, only to find out that every company you'd like to work for will drive you like a slave. 50+ hours per week is not merely an option, but a necessity if you want to remain competitive. And since everyone wants to be a game developer, that means your s…

given that rockstar is a UK company then I think we can safely say that it was developed by European developers who have decent working conditions and hours.

The UK allows employees to opt-out of the working time directive. My experience was that you signed the opt-out by default when signing your contract. You could always opt back in again, but the cultural pressure to do overtime was huge, and you could kiss good bye to any bonuses if you don't crunch. Without bonuses the pay was crap.

[edit] I'm not talking specifically about Rockstar or games companies - this is standard practice in many sectors.

Re: Grand Theft Auto V Earns $800 Million in a Day

#143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It wasn't that i wanted to get a crack , but the thing was that there was no other option available where i live. Which brings us back to: Piracy is a market failure, not a cultural failure.

Theft is a market failure, not a cultural failure.

Repeat after me: piracy is not theft.

Re: Grand Theft Auto V Earns $800 Million in a Day

#144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you don't know about Rockstar then don't comment. This is a great game and it really appears that the developers have put their everything in building it. Sometimes people want to work hard to make sure their output is a success. It is not always about 40hrs work week. A great company is one which creates a culture to build impressive products and where employees feel motivated to be a part of it. I am not saying…

Man, you have swallowed every last drop of the koolaid they're selling you. Consider this situation: You've spent most of your life training yourself as a game developer, only to find out that every company you'd like to work for will drive you like a slave. 50+ hours per week is not merely an option, but a necessity if you want to remain competitive. And since everyone wants to be a game developer, that means your s…

50 hours/week is nothing, especially for people that want to produce. I'm working around 70 now as a founder, and would love to trade that for 50.

Re: Grand Theft Auto V Earns $800 Million in a Day

#145
post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can only imagine what that game could look like if it were designed for PC and not decade old consoles with hardware that was mid-range when the consoles came out. It sucks that every major game lately is just made for the lowest common denominator and then if we are lucky, we get a half assed PC port. Dear god what a mess GTA IV was and how many patches it took to actually get it to a workable state. I still wai…

You could if you target really high end PCs but a lot of the PC market is now laptops or people who don't want to upgrade every 6 months to a year.

The PS3 is nearly 7 years old and runs GTA V. Modern PCs could run GTA V just fine. In fact, it'd probably run better on the PC because they could just install the entire game to the hard drive (load times are a bit lengthy on the PS3 because of disc seek times).

Re: Grand Theft Auto V Earns $800 Million in a Day

#146
post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

News flash , AAA companies don't like to do PC releases because of all the piracy. Hell Let me be honest , every GTA games i had played till San Andreas on the PC was a cracked version. It wasn't that i wanted to get a crack , but the thing was that there was no other option available where i live.

> It wasn't that i wanted to get a crack , but the thing was that there was no other option available where i live. Which brings us back to: Piracy is a market failure, not a cultural failure.

Well if you think about it , the markets here could easily import the games ( they do import the PS3 games ) but they choose not to import PC games because they know it will be cracked in time. So basically it was in fact cultural failure which lead to market failure .

Re: Grand Theft Auto V Earns $800 Million in a Day

#147
post #104

What is even more impressive about this figure is that it's just XBOX 360 and Playstation 3 sales. GTA V hasn't been announced for PC yet which is a severely underrated market when it comes to games I reckon. If GTA V launched with a PC version I think they would have eclipsed $1 billion in 24 hours, easily, if not 1.1. I played this yesterday (I don't own a console) at a friends house and what they've been able to a…

News flash , AAA companies don't like to do PC releases because of all the piracy. Hell Let me be honest , every GTA games i had played till San Andreas on the PC was a cracked version. It wasn't that i wanted to get a crack , but the thing was that there was no other option available where i live.

I'm failing to understand your point. Almost every version of GTA has been released on the PC. How was there no option where you lived? Are you meaning you couldn't purchase it at your local stores before mail-order was available?

Re: Grand Theft Auto V Earns $800 Million in a Day

#148
post #134

One wonders, pundits say mobile is the new hotness in gaming and console are slowly becoming obsolete. Does that mean games as immersive and expansive as GTA5 will cease to exist in a few years?

People don't say this, or if they do they make the same mistake as when they say PC gaming is irrelevant.

They lump the whole of 'gaming' as one thing, not realising that a new market segment emerging doesn't cannibalise the old one.

Re: Grand Theft Auto V Earns $800 Million in a Day

#149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It wasn't that i wanted to get a crack , but the thing was that there was no other option available where i live. Which brings us back to: Piracy is a market failure, not a cultural failure.

Theft is a market failure, not a cultural failure.

Unfortunately your attempted reductio ad absurdum doesn't quite get to the absurdum point.

Re: Grand Theft Auto V Earns $800 Million in a Day

#150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Theft is a market failure, not a cultural failure.

Repeat after me: piracy is not theft.

To be precise, "piracy" isn't even piracy. After all, it's not murder, kidnapping, and plunder on the high seas.
Post reply on HN