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It’s probably one of the best movies of all time, so what do you think Borderlands and Brothers in Arms devs Gearbox would say to making a proper next-gen Blade Runner game? Not the answer you’d expect.
“One of my partners, Brian Martell, had Blade Runner on the list [of IPs we wanted to use],” said Gearbox bossman Randy Pitchford.
“We chased it down and we coulda had it. But that one failed on the business side, because the way we wanted to do it we wanted to spend 25 million dollars. And when you do the math on that, we weren’t going to make it back.
“You’re going to spend 25 million, there’s another 10-15 risk just in the publishing process, and then you got another 10-15 million marketing, and we didn’t think that we could make that back. So that’s too bad.”
Too bad, indeed.
Thanks, OXM.
Viewing 19 responses
freedoms_stain said:
What the fuck were they going to spend the 25 mil on exactly?
“we’ll do it, but everyone on the team gets 500k each”
Ashelia Bnargin Dalmasca said:
Please tell me you’re kidding.
25 million isn’t that much for developing a game nowadays.
freedoms_stain said:
Whether it’s average or not, and perhaps I underestimated the cost of development today, the question still stands, because it is an insane amount of money that has doubled even within this generation.
edit: scratch that, 10-25 million is an average TOTAL spend, these guys are talking 45-55 million total spend.
Me right, O’Connor talking out ass. Again.
edit 2: fuck it, sources conflicting.
Spending is nuts either way.
Ashelia Bnargin Dalmasca said:
Depends on the game. Few companies spend 15 million on advertising. That’s a lot to spend on advertising for even a triple A title, so I have no idea where he got that price from.
A triple A title can set companies back 50 – 60 million in development costs alone. Examples being Grand Theft Auto IV and Gran Turismo 5.
And we’re talking about a pretty established developer here, not some upstart company with nothing behind their belt.
Good job resorting to cheap insults instead of discussing the topic at hand. Makes you come across very mature, good sir.
rainer said:
25 mil for a triple A isn’t a lot some PS2 games hit that one of the early Call of Dutys did I recall the budget coming up in some article.
There already was a semi-decent Blade Runner game, an adventure title from Westwood Studios back in the day, turning it into a Gearbox shooter would be pretty lame its a great flick but its a piece of art and so many people have been influenced by it that it wouldn’t be “new” to todays audience.
I’m glad it didn’t work out.
freedoms_stain said:
Sounds like you’re still talking about the extreme end of the scale. A handful of $100 million games doesn’t represent the hundreds of games with “average” budgets of 10-25.
NoxNoctisUmbra said:
The heck we need Blade Runner game?
We need more games like Heavy Rain, something original, and movie like.
freedoms_stain said:
Depends what they were planning to do with the IP.
The IP might not be original, but they could have crafted a completely original story.
scuz said:
far too hard to make a good game out of.
Hunam said:
Not really, Westwood made an amazing game out of it.
blackdreamhunk said:
no way, I’m in, we need another blade runner for pc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=acBnLMRIAD0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mov3CuU81LM&feature=related
Ashelia Bnargin Dalmasca said:
“Not really, Westwood made an amazing game out of it.”
Was waiting for someone to say this.
Kudos to you. <3
mojo said:
“The heck we need Blade Runner game?
We need more games like Heavy Rain, something original, and movie like.”
kinda funny imo. Have u played Blade Runner? Its actualy the closest-to-heavy-rain experience ive ever encountered in a game… (besides Fahrenheit obviuosly)
Freek said:
Gearbox is known for making tactical FPS games, what exactly where they going to do with Blade Runner?? A slow paced detective story.
JonFE said:
mojo speaks the truth here. Westwood’s Blade Runner was a very cinematic experience.
I’m not sure an FPS would do justice to the IP, so maybe this was for the best.
Tonka said:
Next Gen?
Tonka said:
Where did mojo get to play Heavy Rain I wonder?
mojo said:
well i did not exactly play it.. but with a bit of common sense you shuld be able to see that my comment refers to all the footage from HR that has been published so far..
Scyrenn said:
The Westwood game wasn’t bad at all indeed, rather enjoyed it back in the day, before i had even seen the movie…