A surprising whoopsie in the ongoing court case
Currently, Microsoft and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) are embroiled in court hearings, over the former’s attempt to acquire Activision Blizzard. Xbox competitor Sony has also been part of the proceedings. And Sony has accidentally let some budgets info slip about Horizon Forbidden West and The Last of Us Part 2.
As spotted by outlets like The Verge, Sony submitted a document with redactions. This is a common practice; companies will redact important financial data on these findings. However, it looks like the redaction didn’t hold so well. After scanning the document, numbers appeared visible.
These numbers aren’t quite shots in the dark (rather shots taken through Sharpie) but other outlets‘ and our own best guesses at the numbers behind the marks are that Horizon Forbidden West clocked in at $212 million to develop, with a staff of over 300. The Last of Us Part 2, meanwhile, came in at roughly $220 million to make, with roughly 200 employees at peak headcount. It also seems to reveal that, according to Sony, 1 million PlayStation players only play Call of Duty.
The cost of making games
This came from a section of Sony’s documents, emphasizing the availability of high-quality games on their first-choice console. The argument is that if Sony doesn’t have access to the best games, as they’re all on Xbox, then most people will choose Xbox.
Hearing about these data points on budgets from Sony is fascinating, as it de-mystifies the numbers around making some of the biggest games in the industry. Though, I do think Sony would’ve preferred the data didn’t get out.
We’ll likely get more info as more people take the stand in this hearing, and possibly get closer to a decision on whether Activision Blizzard will become a new arm of Xbox or not. Much like the Apple-Epic court case, though, it could prove to be quite an illuminating period of discovery.
