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Ken Levine says BioShock nearly went nowhere and was almost canceled: "We can't make those games because they don't sell" (www.gamesradar.com)

submitted 3 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

59 comments fedilink hide all child comments

What's interesting to me is of course how cheaply Bioshock got made compared to today's blockbuster hits. Somewhere, we took the wrong turn in regards to modern game development, truly.

Too many managers to pay and as a result too high personel costs, I would assume. :<

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[–] [email protected] 12 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (2 children)

I think marketing is always important no matter how established you are. Coca Cola aren’t skimping on their marketing budget even if they’re the most recognizable brand in the world.

It’s about constantly reminding everybody “hey, I exist! Don’t you want to buy me?”.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 months ago

I'm not saying they shouldn't be marketing at all. Just that marketing budgets for many AAA blockbusters have become so bloated, they can account for nearly half of the development cost. As someone with very little knowledge as to how games get made, it seems like some of that money could be better used

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 months ago (2 children)

I was just talking about this the other day. I think Coke and some companies have reached a saturation point that makes advertisements useless.

I dont know if we have any data to model off of, but I'd love to see if their profits dip by any meaningful amount if they stopped advertising for 3 months straight. Let the movie theaters, and the restaurants, and the culturally embedded soft drink preferences do their thing and see if the dial moves.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 months ago

Coke keeps running ads because that's how they keep the brand as a cultural staple. They aren't trying to sell more coke right now, they're making sure that people in 50 years will still be buying it.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 3 months ago (1 children)

I don’t think they would keep investing in marketing if they didn’t know if it worked. I’m just guessing, but I believe there’s a noticeable bump in sales after a successful marketing campaign.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 months ago

And that's what I think they're failing to measure. I think they're unable to accurately divorce the increase in sales from other incentives/market forces, and so they're just doing what they've been doing regardless of actual merit, or the merit is being improperly evaluated