StarCraft II Cost $100 Million To Develop

UgLyPuNk writes with news of a report that Blizzard has spent over $100 million developing StarCraft II. Initial development on the game began in 2003, and it's due to be released on July 27th. Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick "described StarCraft as one of the company’s seven 'pillars of opportunity' (where each pillar has the potential to deliver operating profit between $500 million and $1 billion over its life span)." The finalized system requirements for the game have been released, and players planning to buy the digitally distributed version can download it now, though it won't be playable until the 27th.

Comments

$10 mil per year

[ZirbMonkey]

It only took them 10 years to release. If they'd released it 5 years ago, it would have only cost a fraction of that.

Re:$10 mil per year

[waambulance]

if they had added (n total developers) * (years in development) developers, they could have released it in a year... ah well. kotick can be clueless sometimes... -0.

Re:$10 mil per year

[waambulance]

i really dont understand why they used c++, when faster development platforms are available. python is perfectly adequate. so is AS3. look at farmville. kotick should listen up considering zynga just got bought by the google. mandating c++ is just a charity-case for old, bearded programmers who couldnt program their way out of an eclipse IDE. ah well. we cant all be smart. some have to drive on by with their gcc and gdb lunchpails in the special bus...

Re:$10 mil per year

[glwtta]

I wonder if it's possible to craft a comment that is so mind-numbingly obviously sarcastic that every Slashdot reader (or at least all the ones who bother to reply) will get it. It's not looking likely, though.

(I hope I'm not picking on someone with Asperger's or something...)

Re:Will not be surprising

[Anonymous Coward]

"If the crackers find a way to play before the start date."

Indeed, white people can be very impatient.

Re:Expenses

[TheLink]

Hookers, blow and blackjack?

I guess there was some pizza and mountain dew too.

Re:and still

[greenarj]

LAN requires more vespene gas.

Re:Will not be surprising

[Anonymous Coward]

I was absolutely destroyed by a heterogeneous mob of enemy units before I even had my pants on.

Look, I'm not one to question what goes on behind closed doors, but dude, the pants thing might be why you lost.

Re:Will not be surprising

[Anonymous Coward]

The preferred term is "Honkey-American."

Re:Just in case you were wondering why...

[Urkki]

...you're gonna have to buy this game 3 times.

You're a sucker if you buy SC2. Go play something else. Go get League of Legends or something. Don't encourage this shit where you pay $50-60 a pop 2-3 times just to get an entire game.

Apparently you don't understand. It's very simple really. It's Starcraft. S-T-A-R-C-R-A-F-T. Everything else, such as life, liberty and pursuit of (any other kind of) happiness, is secondary.

(And no, I'm not a real fan, and I have no current plans to play or buy the game, just saying...)