Live data from Hacker News

Grand Theft Auto V Earns $800 Million in a Day

variety.com

51–60 of 178 posts

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

#51
This game is just pure awesome. I think all this hype is largely due to the previous generation GTA games. I've played all the other ones. Favorites are Vice City and San Andreas. Previous versions definitely led the way for a great promotion and grand opening for this game. The game play is mind blowing.

I'm surprised the revenue surpassed Call Of Duty Black Ops 2 though that is one of the most popular games out now and sold out on just the pre-order.

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

#52
post #24
post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I played this yesterday (I don't own a console) at a friends house and what they've been able to achieve on these consoles is impressive considering these consoles aren't next gen and are resource limited. It seems like that happens at every end of every console's life. Last of Us, BioShock Infinite, and GTA V are three fantastic games to close out the PS3.

I wonder if the developers get a real handle on the platform and squeezing the most out of it by the time it gets to EOL.

I was just reading about this yesterday actually. Wiki mentions the tricks learnt from GTAIV were exploited to their full extent to make the best use of the hardware for GTAV.

> While both games were developed for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, the team were able to render the world of Grand Theft Auto V with greater detail than in Grand Theft Auto IV because they had become familiar with the hardware over time. Art director Aaron Garbut opined that while the aging hardware of the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 were tiring to work with, "I think one of the most amazing features is the way we handle lighting in the game to maintain a consistent look despite the constraints on realistic lighting and shadows on current hardware", he explained.[28] Vice president Dan Houser agreed with this sentiment, explaining that working on Grand Theft Auto IV with relatively new hardware was difficult, but "now we know what the hardware's capable of, so it's become a lot easier to move things along and a lot more fun, too".

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gta5#Development

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

#53
post #33

Kind of surprised that marketing cost them more than development ($115m vs $150m).

> 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.

Depressing? What would have been more depressing is that they might not have received a bonus had there been no marketing and the game didn't meet budget.

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

#54
post #45
post #2

To put that in perspective, here is a list of opening day top grossing movies http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_highest-grossing_openin... , and the previous video game record was $500 million, for Call of Duty: Black Ops 2.

I'm not sure that is a fair comparison, Movies have a very strict number of people who can see the movie the first weekend (seats in movie theaters and not opening around the world, though the highest movie in the list was harry potter which I think had "world premier"). Where games have no limit on how many can buy it the first day, which is especially true since digital download has become so popular.

It might not be fair but it's a comparison you'll have to get used to. What's not fair is the way that movie profits are reported. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hollywood_accounting

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

#55
post #46

That official gameplay video is really impressive if you haven't looked at the state of the art in video games lately. It looks like a wish list of gaming features put together by hardcore fans with no limits on budget or creativity. If I didn't know the game was released and well received, I'd say there's no way in hell it would be possible to put it all together on time, on budget, and without major flaws. Damn imp…

I don't know about Rockstar, but from what I've heard from game developers from big studios, they're driven like slaves. Crunch time, unpaid overtime, wages that are not paid on time, etc etc. It's easier to be on time and on budget if you break rules like 8 hour days and proper remuneration of the workforce.

Yes, but much harder to create such a strong brand that people are actually willing to be "ripped off" of time and wages.

I cannot comment on quality of work for Rockstar tho.

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

#56
post #46

That official gameplay video is really impressive if you haven't looked at the state of the art in video games lately. It looks like a wish list of gaming features put together by hardcore fans with no limits on budget or creativity. If I didn't know the game was released and well received, I'd say there's no way in hell it would be possible to put it all together on time, on budget, and without major flaws. Damn imp…

I don't know about Rockstar, but from what I've heard from game developers from big studios, they're driven like slaves. Crunch time, unpaid overtime, wages that are not paid on time, etc etc. It's easier to be on time and on budget if you break rules like 8 hour days and proper remuneration of the workforce.

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 that Rockstar employees worked more than 40hrs/week (I have no idea) but if I were a Rockstar employee I would be damn proud of the output.

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

#57
post #46

That official gameplay video is really impressive if you haven't looked at the state of the art in video games lately. It looks like a wish list of gaming features put together by hardcore fans with no limits on budget or creativity. If I didn't know the game was released and well received, I'd say there's no way in hell it would be possible to put it all together on time, on budget, and without major flaws. Damn imp…

I don't know about Rockstar, but from what I've heard from game developers from big studios, they're driven like slaves. Crunch time, unpaid overtime, wages that are not paid on time, etc etc. It's easier to be on time and on budget if you break rules like 8 hour days and proper remuneration of the workforce.

I don't know if this is actual industry lingo, but Penny Arcade has stories of "the trenches" to accompany its sister comic: http://trenchescomic.com/

Suffice to say that after reading those stories I'm never touching a QA/tester game industry job with a 10-foot pole.

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

#58

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…

Assuming every PC copy sold is digital at $60 a pop the 70% publisher cut would be $42. To generate an extra $300,000,000 in revenue on PC it'd have to sell 7 million copies. No game in the history of ever has sold that many copies on day one on PC. And they especially haven't done that when the game is releasing on consoles at the same time.

It will however eventually release on PC and generate a nice chunk of change over a few years at various price points.

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

#59

Kind of surprised that marketing cost them more than development ($115m vs $150m).

$115 million? Wow. How many developers/artists/QA/management folks (or man-hours) does that buy you?

From the wiki, 137 million to develop for four years with roughly 250 people (137000000/4/250) = 137k a year average per person

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

#60

Kind of surprised that marketing cost them more than development ($115m vs $150m).

My first internship was at a very successful (non-tech) company. One the things I learned there is how R&D costs were 2% of revenue, while marketing... 50%. And we're talking billions here.
Post reply on HN