One major aspect of gaming that always has gamers in a split opinion is the cost of making a game and whether it is worth it or not. Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 is one of the most recent examples of this, as a recent Ransomware attack on Insomniac Games caused information to be released regarding the development costs and profits of games that have already been released and future projects.
As the gaming industry evolves and grows, with bigger and better technology and more demand for AAA games, it begs the question as to whether or not these major budget projects are worth it and the time it takes for them to be developed.
Many gamers, after seeing this leaked information, have taken to Reddit and Twitter/X to discuss their opinions on this matter, as some believe it is perfectly reasonable for the development costs to be so high, while others feel that the costs are so high that even major films like Avengers: Endgame just about reach the same cost as Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 to make.
Why Do Developers Like Insomniac Have Such a High Development Budget for Games?
For obvious reasons, developers like Insomniac Games, who have been around for many years and have many different games released by its development team, understand that it could have such a high development budget for certain projects, but many gamers are shocked that this budget is going to games like Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 rather than franchises like Ratchet and Clank.
The most likely reason behind this is because Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 is being backed by Marvel itself and would most likely require Insomniac Games to pay for the license to the characters and story. According to the leaked budget information, Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 had a budget of $315 million, and a majority of that budget most likely went towards the licensing rather than the actual development.
However, a large quantity of that budget would have been allocated to the actual development of the game itself, as the development process took numerous years, with hundreds of developers working many hours, many different assets being created, and thousands of ads worldwide.
Even still, this has confused a large majority of the gaming community, as a lot of the assets within Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 game have been re-used from older games. Whereas games like Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart only had a £73 million budget but had brand-new features, planets, and characters and were even a headline game for the PlayStation 5’s launch.
Ultimately, game development companies like Insomniac Games have to make many hard decisions that will ultimately leave a sour taste in gamers mouths, as many gamers would very much prefer for developers to have a smaller budget, a shorter development time, and smaller game sizes similar to Indie games that can still be enjoyed.
Why Are Games Like Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 Getting This Budget Over Other Franchises?
When it comes to the game development process, there are many reasons why a game development company will have either a large or small budget, and it mainly comes down to circumstances like profit margins.
For example, when it comes to Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, the budget was $315 million, and it was expected to sell over 10.5 million copies, totaling a profit of over $75 million. Since Insomniac Games estimated it would make such a large profit and could determine it would sell enough copies to reach this target, it could then provide such a large budget to ensure that the game met the criteria it needed to.
Whereas other game franchises like Ratchet and Clank sadly no longer have as large a following as Spider-Man does, meaning that many members of the gaming community won’t look forward to a new Ratchet and Clank game, leaving Insomniac Games without any profit, especially if it gave both games the same budget.
Understandably, this leaves the gaming community in a rather difficult situation, as many members of the community are annoyed that games like Ratchet and Clank aren’t getting a decent budget. Causing many gamers to ignore the game, leading it to not make profits and eventually failing.
Sadly, this turns into an endless cycle, as many gamers don’t want to purchase a game that looks cheap and unfinished, but if a game development company provides a large budget, many gamers would complain it takes too long to be developed and doesn’t live up to the hype.
Unfortunately, with the way gaming is going, many smaller franchises that many people have begun to lose faith in will begin to fade out of existence, and the only games left will be big franchises like Call of Duty, which will only release the same game but with a new name to stay afloat.
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