GTA 4's Production Budget Estimated at $100M
GTA IV's massive budget pins the title above the previous front-runner Shenmue, released for the Dreamcast in 1999 and costing an unprecedented $70 million to produce.
"It's like making a theatre production, a few movies and an album all to fit into one package," Benzies told the Times Online.
Benzies also noted that about 1,000 people pitched in on the game's development. Beyond the expected tasks of programming and design, Rockstar also set up time-lapse cameras on New York rooftops to capture the correct intensity of the rain, and took over 100,000 photographs on location to piece together Liberty City.
"We're constantly competing against ourselves," says Benzies. "If something isn't exactly right, it comes out of the game or gets fixed."
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supermonkeyballz
reply100m well spent dollars. Amazing to think a game will make more than just about everyone in their lifetime.
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[deleted]
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I could say the same, but I haven't touched MP yet : )
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Why is it amazing? Movies cost that much on a regular basis.
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He didn't say it was amazing, he said the dollars were well spent.
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I think this probably signals the point where gamers are going to have to get used to not expecting higher and higher production values out of new games. That's really reaching the top end of what companies are willing to spend on a project. Technology improves, and tools improve, and people get better at making games, but there's certainly a limit to how much content you can expect to see in games without completely breaking the bank.
Unless you're Blizzard.
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