EA Lose $800 Million Through Godfather Saga
FT puts value on costly delay of Mafia blockbuster.
Whilst development costs of EA’s forthcoming Mafia blockbuster The Godfather stretch to somewhere in the region of $10m to $20m, a report in the Financial Times suggests that the financial hit EA has taken from the game is in the region of $800m.
This is based on an estimation that a 5% drop in EA’s shares last July was largely down to delays with The Godfather game.
To compound this, EA confirmed last month that The Godfather would finally be released this month at the premium price of $49.95. Fewer than three weeks later, it changed its mind and announced a $39.95 price tag.
“It’s been very difficult to pull off and we’ve had one slip – from November to March – but we’ve managed to move it from being ordinary to extraordinary with the extra tuning that it needed,” executive producer David De Martini told the Financial Times.
The Godfather has been treated as a proper blockbuster franchise by EA, featuring original star Marlon Brando who completed voiceovers for his Don Corleone character before his untimely death in summer 2004 from unsustainable obesity.
Some internet wags have likened the open-ended game to a Grant Theft Auto clone – which, while perhaps slightly unfair, has clearly been an inspiration.
Adam and Joe also ran an hysterical review of the game on their XFM weekend radio show right here. Do listen to this if you have a spare two minutes, because it is actually wee-yourself-funny.
There's a full SPOnG review to follow later this week. The Godfather is released in North America tomorrow (21) and in Europe on March 24.
This is based on an estimation that a 5% drop in EA’s shares last July was largely down to delays with The Godfather game.
To compound this, EA confirmed last month that The Godfather would finally be released this month at the premium price of $49.95. Fewer than three weeks later, it changed its mind and announced a $39.95 price tag.
“It’s been very difficult to pull off and we’ve had one slip – from November to March – but we’ve managed to move it from being ordinary to extraordinary with the extra tuning that it needed,” executive producer David De Martini told the Financial Times.
The Godfather has been treated as a proper blockbuster franchise by EA, featuring original star Marlon Brando who completed voiceovers for his Don Corleone character before his untimely death in summer 2004 from unsustainable obesity.
Some internet wags have likened the open-ended game to a Grant Theft Auto clone – which, while perhaps slightly unfair, has clearly been an inspiration.
Adam and Joe also ran an hysterical review of the game on their XFM weekend radio show right here. Do listen to this if you have a spare two minutes, because it is actually wee-yourself-funny.
There's a full SPOnG review to follow later this week. The Godfather is released in North America tomorrow (21) and in Europe on March 24.
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Comments
OptimusP 20 Mar 2006 19:08
1/3
No idea how a game that costs 10-20 mill suddenly makes the company lose 800 mill because of some delay... by that logic Nintendo prolly lost a billion on Zelda TP or something...
ann0uk 21 Mar 2006 14:36
2/3
This game was always going to be average, EA do us a favour and leave the market, it is so saturated with your s**t.
micta 21 Mar 2006 16:30
3/3
OptimusP wrote:
No idea how a game that costs 10-20 mill suddenly makes the company lose 800 mill because of some delay... by that logic Nintendo prolly lost a billion on Zelda TP or something...
Don't know about the losing money part, but that Adam and Joe clip made me laugh out louder than usual yesterday. No' bad for a Monday. And just when i thought i'd laughed my last and loudest, Snuff Box on BBC3! Any takers?