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EA Spends 3x More On Marketing Than Development

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the hey-i-know-one-of-their-marketroids dept.

G3ckoG33k writes "According to Electronic Arts officer Rich Hilleman, 'the price of producing console games has rocketed, with marketing costing up to three times more than the development of a title.'" Sounds pretty insane, but does anyone know how this compares to the film industry?

2 of 442 comments (clear)

  1. Why is this a surprise? by synthesizerpatel · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Software development is a lot like a having a baby. 1 woman, 9 months = 1 baby. You can't add 8 more women to the equation and get a baby in one month. And as projects get larger, the success is dependent on cohesive management, not necessarily additional resources.

    However, with marketing -- you can send any number of suit-monkeys out to cut deals with drink manufacturers, t-shirt companies, magazines.. etc. All without detracting from the potential quality of your final product.

    If it's in the game, it's likely because one of these marketing people said it needed to be in the game. Thank them for in-game advertising and in-game shops that accept real world money.

  2. Hmm... by Volda · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Maybe if they would make better games they wouldnt have to spend so much on advertising.