Back in May, Activision Chief Executive Officer Bobby Kotick revealed that the publisher will invest $500 million in Bungie’s upcoming shooter, Destiny. Since then, that figure has been associated with the development and marketing budget of the game, but Bungie recently said it isn’t accurate.
Responding to a question from a fan, Bungie’s Eric Osborne repeated the developer’s Chief Operating Officer Pete Parsons’ explanation: “For marketing you'd have to ask Activision people, but for development costs, not anything close to $500 million,” Parsons told GameIndustry International in an interview. “I think that speaks a lot more to the long-term investment that we're making in the future of the product.”
“We’re pouring everything it takes into Destiny to ensure it meets our fans' expectations, and our own,” Osborne added. “Activision is, too. But the budget for Destiny, including associated marketing costs and pizza Wednesdays, is nowhere near 500 million dollars.”
Bungie’s most recent weekly update also makes clear that Game of Thrones actor Peter Dinklage’s voice acting for Ghost has already been updated for Beta, and that it will be updated again before the game launches. Some players in the Destiny Alpha found his voice acting stiff and awkward, especially the now infamous “that wizard came from the moon” line, which Bungie has since turned into a t-shirt.
Destiny launches for Xbox 360, Xbox One, PlayStation 3, and PlayStation 4 on September 9. We thought that the game looked promising when we got our hands on the alpha build earlier this month.
