Halo 3 to sell 10 million copies, generate $700 million revenues, cost $30 million to develop

[Zeus]

Analysts have been discussing just how much cash Halo 3 will bring in for MS. Lazard Capital Markets expects that Halo 3 will sell as many as 10 million copies worldwide generating $700 million worth of sales and with MS getting 80% or $560 million. Another analyst notes that Halo 3 is looking at over a half a billion dollar profit and a margin of upwards of 90%. Prior to this Michael Patcher estimated that the total cost for Halo 3 will reach a little more than $60 million, consisting of $30 million for development and the rest spent on advertising and bonuses which could further tise the total expenditure. With all that said, it is on track to make huge profits.


The total cost to Microsoft for "Halo 3": a little more than $60 million. Development costs will probably be just above $30 million, given an elite team of 300 full-time artists and programmers working for three years on the game at Bungie, the internal Microsoft studio that created the games, said Michael Pachter, an analyst at Wedbush Morgan Securities. Bonuses to key developers and artists will probably add $25 million to the tab, Pachter said. Though about $15 million to $20 million in television marketing will be spent promoting the game, the majority will be footed by marketing partners such as Pepsi, Burger King and Pontiac that want to ride the "Halo 3" hype.

Master Chief's take-home pay isn't expected to be as lucrative. The game may sell as many as 10 million copies at an average retail price of $70 for a total of $700 million in sales, said Colin Sebastian, an analyst with Lazard Capital Markets. Of that, Microsoft will get about 80%, or $560 million.

The revenue potential for "Halo 3" is constrained by its narrow fan base -- young males. Though Microsoft is trying to make the game more accessible to other types of players, Halo's audience is "hard-core geeks who are into mature content," said Jesse Alexander, executive producer for the "Alias" and "Heroes" TV series and a "Halo" aficionado. "It reaches a very specific market. And that's OK. But it's just not the same audience as the movie and TV business."

Where Master Chief will probably score a decisive hit is profit margin. Although "Spider-Man 3" will generate an estimated $628 million in pretax profit for a 46% margin, according to SNL Kagan, "Halo 3" is looking at a profit of more than half a billion dollars and a margin of upward of 90%.


News Source: <A href="http://www.latimes.com/technology/consumer/gamers/la-fi-halo24sep24,1,2190575.story?coll=la-business-games&ctrack=1&cset=true" target="_blank">latimes</a>

[felixm477]

if true this would help MS with their warranty loss and give them enough leighway to pay for some nice exclusives.

[nuke868]

Well i say that this flood of fake news about possible sales of Halo 3 wont help and it will be a big disappointment as it has been for all the friends including me that bought it.

[XxBigP123xX]

$30 million to dev? why? isnt killzone 2 like 20 million and just to get the ps3 at it's best potential? also they probably wasted like 20 million on advertising.

[So-Unreal]

Why does Bungie have ~300 workings and have only been really doing halo for like 8 years now?

[saleem]

please dont start saying that you cant figure out why they will make so much money when the game is lame and full of graphical glitch's when reviewers make out its nigh on perfect cos all it will do is start the halo bots off thankyou.
:p

[felixm477]

$30 million to dev? why? isnt killzone 2 like 20 million and just to get the ps3 at it's best potential? also they probably wasted like 20 million on advertising.


well considering the crap that killzone 1 was ide say the dev team for halo is on a higher payroll than the considering they have produced 2 titles that sold millions before.

[squaredwheels]

$30 million to dev? why? isnt killzone 2 like 20 million and just to get the ps3 at it's best potential? also they probably wasted like 20 million on advertising.

Its funny how you dislike halo 3 and yet you haven't even beaten the first stage.Last time i checked you at least have to say you beat the game before judging how fun it is.otherwise your credibility is really in question.Any one who has gotten to the 3rd stage can definitely tell you its a game worth finishing.but
hey if you wanna be like every other dude on this site who talks **** about it and only played stage one, have fun.Because i admittedly dislike that stage as well.


http://live.xbox.com/en-US/profile/profile.aspx?pp=0&GamerTag=XxBigP123xX

[satel]

bullsh!t if they sell 10 million copies this means every single 360 owners out there has bought the game & what about piracy & the millions who downloaded it for free & what about the ones who dont even like fps ??? this is another major hype first they hyped the crappy game & now its sales.fukin assholes they think everyone is dumb like they are :rolleyes:

[richbambam360]

he's probably played a friend of a friends copy like most of em
but these peple opinions dont matter to me they just hate it because its on the xbox360 & they dislike anything xbox
but there will be a few people that are gonna dislike the game,but for every 100 that dislike the game for any reason (& some of these wont actually play the game)Their will be 100,000+ loving & enjoying it like meIts funny how you dislike halo 3 and yet you haven't even beaten the first stage.Last time i checked you at least have to say you beat the game before judging how fun it is.otherwise your credibility is really in question.Any one who has gotten to the 3rd stage can definitely tell you its a game worth finishing.but
hey if you wanna be like every other dude on this site who talks **** about it and only played stage one, have fun.Because i admittedly dislike that stage as well.


http://live.xbox.com/en-US/profile/profile.aspx?pp=0&GamerTag=XxBigP123xX

[noheadlights]

10 million copies? That would mean that every 360 owner buys one. Sounds a little unlikely to me.
Ok, it probably sells some consoles too. Let's try some math. 70% of the xbox owners will buy halo. That's around 7 million copies. This would mean halo 3 sells 3 million consoles? Hmm, doesn't sound much more likely than the other assumption. :)

[slayne]

By the time it reaches 10 million sold copies it would probably be 2-3 years down the road. And what is with the average price being sold 70 dollars? I don't think that many limited edition is being sold and unless europeans are getting rip off again on pricing they are just making up numbers. I would love to be an analyst on one of those companies. I can just make up numbers as I please.

[n|n10do]

thats unrealistic.... no matter how good the game is. as far as i know there are only 11,5 million 360 sold worldwide.... that would mean neary everyone who has a 360 has to buy halo3......

[satel]

10 million copies? That would mean that every 360 owner buys one. Sounds a little unlikely to me.
Ok, it probably sells some consoles too. Let's try some math. 70% of the xbox owners will buy halo. That's around 7 million copies. This would mean halo 3 sells 3 million consoles? Hmm, doesn't sound much more likely than the other assumption. :)

impossible & dont forget the 33% failure rate which means atleast 3 million consoles in repair shops right now.

[XxBigP123xX]

Its funny how you dislike halo 3 and yet you haven't even beaten the first stage.Last time i checked you at least have to say you beat the game before judging how fun it is.otherwise your credibility is really in question.Any one who has gotten to the 3rd stage can definitely tell you its a game worth finishing.but
hey if you wanna be like every other dude on this site who talks **** about it and only played stage one, have fun.Because i admittedly dislike that stage as well.


http://live.xbox.com/en-US/profile/profile.aspx?pp=0&GamerTag=XxBigP123xX

im playing it on easy;) you cant get achievments for that

[QuadForce]

I guess you have to take into consideration that many people will purchase the 360 just for this game plus it's getting close to the holiday season and there will probably be another 2 million 360s bought from now till xmas... Just a guess

[Dark_Vendetta]

im playing it on easy;) you cant get achievments for that

There is no easy. There are 3 modes: Normal, Heroic, Legendary
Only loosers play it on normal and still there are 10 achievements for the normal mode and 9 others for finding skulls in the level

[squaredwheels]

im playing it on easy;) you cant get achievments for that

that explains it, there is absolutely no fun to be had on that mode.Its far to0 easy.now you want action hit up 4 co-op on legendary.Im sure you wont question it ever again.In fact i dont think any game should be played on easy and be judged so badly.Your opinion doesnt effect me im just saying to choose your battles dont be a satal/jerzmob/l33t hax0r

[pugton]

Even if the game sold another 10 million systems than whats already been sold whats after Halo 3 to really push more sales.

The 360 will never hit the heights the previous Playstations have hit. I dont think the PS3 will hit the previous success they have hit either unless they really blow everyones socks off around xmas time with both a price drop and shedloads of high grade games. Between both strategies though i see Sony being more successful in the longrun as they have a system that could last at least 5 years more but the 360 is just almost at its peak already.

[felixm477]

bullsh!t if they sell 10 million copies this means every single 360 owners out there has bought the game & what about piracy & the millions who downloaded it for free & what about the ones who dont even like fps ??? this is another major hype first they hyped the crappy game & now its sales.fukin assholes they think everyone is dumb like they are :rolleyes:

um...u have to take into account they are going by what is sold to retailers. since no retailer knows what the other is getting and how many 360's are in the area they have to order alot more wich means alot more than 10 million copies of the game will be sold despite there only being 10 million consoles in homes. Also keep in mind halo has always been a good system seller despite its lackluster visuals.

[Cheunce]

Between both strategies though i see Sony being more successful in the longrun as they have a system that could last at least 5 years more but the 360 is just almost at its peak already.

It would be very interesting to what you base this on? I guess it can not be that you like the PS3 more than the Xbo360 that made you come to this conclusion? :D

[felixm477]

impossible & dont forget the 33% failure rate which means atleast 3 million consoles in repair shops right now.
i hope your aware since the release of the elite and the new units, every console sold and every replacement changed to a new board shrinks that 33% right? not to mention once the falcons are out that 33% will drastically drop as the overal number of xbox's with new boards and smaller build process outnumber the older more prone ones. but im sure you wouldnt know about fair reasoning it seems to be above you...

[0 morgan 0]

edit n/m ........

[N1GHTRA1N]

10 million copies? That would mean that every 360 owner buys one. Sounds a little unlikely to me.
Ok, it probably sells some consoles too. Let's try some math. 70% of the xbox owners will buy halo. That's around 7 million copies. This would mean halo 3 sells 3 million consoles? Hmm, doesn't sound much more likely than the other assumption. :)

They don't mean 10 million copies at LAUNCH. They mean over the life of the game, do you expect the 360 to stop selling now? The original Xbox sold 24 million consoles, the 360 will do at least that well.

Halo 1 sold just over 7 million copies, Halo 2 sold around 10 million copies, it only makes sense that Halo 3 will sell even better and continue the trend.

[Frak-Frakistan]

There is no easy. There are 3 modes: Normal, Heroic, Legendary
Only loosers play it on normal and still there are 10 achievements for the normal mode and 9 others for finding skulls in the level

b*tch a$$ there is an easy mode,you obviously don't have halo 3. and there are no achievements fir completing it on easy


and 700 million? you are a fu*cking lier and still this does not cover the warranty bills,more losses for the suckbox 360

[Mikeyy]

It would be very interesting to what you base this on? I guess it can not be that you like the PS3 more than the Xbo360 that made you come to this conclusion? :D

Its not that hard. The playstation 1 lasted 10 years, sold 115 million. The ps2 is sceduled to last 10 years, Sold 120 million, has 3 years to go.

After reading those facts, what do you think Sony is aiming to do with the PS3? Use some common sense.

They stated that is their business model for all their consoles.

Im sure all the xbox 1 users are pissed right now, as there console was dropped like a bad habit.

Xbox 1 only had 25 million sales. So 11.5 million 360s have been sold. HMM with no more support for xbox 1 where did that other 13.5 million owners go? Microsoft tryed to immediatly force a console on people and it blew up in their face IMO.

[LRa]

No matter how great Halo 3 is, do they really think that over 90% of Xbox360 owners will buy this game?

I highly doubt it.

[Covert Knight]

I love how most of you, are full of s***.

I know there are leaked copies, fine, sure, but not every f***in one of you has it. Those who do claim you do, dont have it on your GAMERTAG PROFILE so right off the bat, we know you are full of s***, you bias faggots. That leaves us with the fags that act like they've played the game yet don't even own the console. Obviously you have nothing new or intelligent in terms of posting, so get off the forums morons and go play Resistance for the 150th time in a row. Its funny there are Nintendo fans but they have their system, they love their system and talk about it, but they dont go to other forums bashing the other console. And I am rarely on the PS3 forum if ever (heck I dont think I posted there much and if so it was relevant to the HD war) so really that just leaves with a certain overly aggressive (and stupid) group, gee, I wonder which group that is.

10 million copies? Probably not now, what they do mean is in total like years from now as well. Heck I still dont have a copy of Halo 2 even though I've beaten it 3 times.

I can't entirely judge the game, because I don't have it. But based off solid reviews, especially gametrailers which they are KNOWN for their unbiased reviews, I can safely say that this game will be worth my time and money. And while you guys go continue crying about how it sucks though you don't even know, I'm going to be playing the game for a few days and hopefully off this forsaken forums with the worlds dumbest trolls.

[jammi]

Its funny how you dislike halo 3 and yet you haven't even beaten the first stage.Last time i checked you at least have to say you beat the game before judging how fun it is.otherwise your credibility is really in question.Any one who has gotten to the 3rd stage can definitely tell you its a game worth finishing.but
hey if you wanna be like every other dude on this site who talks **** about it and only played stage one, have fun.Because i admittedly dislike that stage as well.


http://live.xbox.com/en-US/profile/profile.aspx?pp=0&GamerTag=XxBigP123xX

i beat the game on its hardest setting and dont think its all that, so does that mean everyones gonna listen to me?

[foundmy]

ya depends really if halo3 does after cod4 comes out. cod4 will kill off halo3.
halo3 sales and PR is a great train to be on once it starts.
Look how did they pre-order all those copies, i mean that tells me none of the stores actually have stock for the fools lining up. well that is not possible, i guess, its store pre-orders not customer pre-orders.

and do you honestly think, bioshock is the game of the year (according to G4tv) and it only sold now 12% of all xbox360 USA customers bought it. that is just over 710K for every 7. million customers.

so if halo3 doubls that, that is only 24-25%. and this is your franchise ultimate game. come on. its all PR. and to say from 3 to 10 million, why not say from 10 copies to 15 billion. come on. could should didn't, but could.

yes, halo3 will make money, no doubt, people will buy it just because, i mean GTA didn't have the best graphics as other titles out there for last-gen but it sold very very well, halo3 will be in that category.

[grapeape]

ya depends really if halo3 does after cod4 comes out. cod4 will kill off halo3.
halo3 sales and PR is a great train to be on once it starts.
Look how did they pre-order all those copies, i mean that tells me none of the stores actually have stock for the fools lining up. well that is not possible, i guess, its store pre-orders not customer pre-orders.

and do you honestly think, bioshock is the game of the year (according to G4tv) and it only sold now 12% of all xbox360 USA customers bought it. that is just over 710K for every 7. million customers.

so if halo3 doubls that, that is only 24-25%. and this is your franchise ultimate game. come on. its all PR. and to say from 3 to 10 million, why not say from 10 copies to 15 billion. come on. could should didn't, but could.

yes, halo3 will make money, no doubt, people will buy it just because, i mean GTA didn't have the best graphics as other titles out there for last-gen but it sold very very well, halo3 will be in that category.

I'm a COD fan but I cant see it affecting Halo sales...they are on two totally different levels. Call of duty has only broken 1 million sales twice (Finest Hour on the ps2 with 1.2 million and CoD2 on the 360 1.4 million). There isnt much reason to expect it to be a "Halo Killer" even if its a better game technically. Klonoa as an example, completely destroyed Crash Bandicoot gameplay wise on the PSX but never came close to matching it in sales. That happens all the time...superior gameplay rarely translates to superior sales.

I can see Halo 3 selling 10 million easy...alot of people forget Halo2 didnt cross the 6 million mark until it was a Best of Classics release. It will continue to sell for years.

[noheadlights]

I can see Halo 3 selling 10 million easy...alot of people forget Halo2 didnt cross the 6 million mark until it was a Best of Classics release. It will continue to sell for years.
Maybe it can sell 10 million copies over the next few years although I doubt it. But how does the analyst come to the 70$ on average statement? They have to sell a lot of legendary editions to cover up for the classic releases pricepoint. ;)

This article is still complete BS...

[Xenogears V]

They should learn from polyphony digital, they succeed in developing at the most the games, and they don't have all these proceeds.

[aic007]

10mil is prob never going to happen. 4-5 more likely anything over that is a bonus.

figure about 500k of legendary @ $130 thats $65mil, split the other 3.5-4mil between reg and special so for arguments sake 2mil each.

$120mil reg edition
$140mil lim edition
$65mil leg edition

over $300mil for one game, not too shabby.