Activision spending $500m to make Destiny its next billion dollar IP

Publisher Activision is throwing its financial clout behind Destiny in an effort to make the brand its next Call of Duty.

Reuters reckons that the company is spending a colossal $500m developing and marketing Destiny in the hope that it can become its second billion dollar IP alongside its successful war series.

Note that the fee, confirmed to be accurate by a spokesperson, also includes marketing, packaging, infrastructure support, royalties and other costs”.

All of which means the game will need to sell in the region of 15-16m units of the title just to break even – that would place it somewhere in the top 25 best selling games ever released.

By comparison, Grand Theft Auto V cost in the region of $260m and has to date sold over 32.5m units.

Added an Activision spokesperson: "Bungie’s very ambitious plan is designed to unfold over a 10-year period. The depth of creative content, scope and scale is unprecedented and is required to bring Bungie’s vision to life.

[Investment in the next-gen engine and a] robust backend infrastructure are upfront expenditures that should reduce future product development costs. Over the long term, we expect the ultimate product costs to be roughly in line with other triple-A titles."

The fact that Activision owns the right to the currently Bungie-developed IP is what makes the numbers viable, according to Bobby Kotick, who told the Milken conference last week that: "If you’re making a $500 million bet you can’t take that chance with someone else’s IP. The stakes for us are getting bigger."

Destiny is due out on September 9th.