Bioshock has been alleged to cost publisher Take-Two $200,000 dollars to produce and market...possibly.
An anonymous source from the company has claimed that the latest game in the Bioshock franchise cost $100 million to develop, and another $100 million to market, in an article in the New York Times. However, the creative director of the game, Ken Levine, has taken to Twitter to deny the claim. He tweeted the following statement:
"200 million for Infinite? Did someone send some checks to the wrong address?"
Bioshock Infinite has been in development for four years, with a 200 person team working on the game. In comparison, Gamespot is reporting that Grand Theft Auto 5 is estimated to cost developers over $137 million, based on the 250 person team working for five years on the game. Of course, the crown jewel of epic development costs is the $200 million Star Wars: The Old Republic cost, with 800 developers on four continents spending six years creating the game. And these numbers do not take into account the millions of marketing dollars going into the games.
While we do not know exactly how much Bioshock Infinite cost to produce and market (no official statement about the article has been released), Ken Levine would likely know the details of the game's costs, so his refute of the story should be noted. After all, as the co-founder of Irrational Games, he is the one of the most credible sources for information about the games. While a game such as Bioshock Infinite would certainly cost tens of millions of dollars to make, a $200 million price tag for the game overall seems a bit steep. Bioshock Infinite is available March 26 for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and PC.