[GDC09] Jonathon Blow Reveals Braid's Budget - News
by Daniel Share-Strom , posted on 25 March 2009 / 4,411 Views
By Daniel Share-Strom
At a GDC panel entitled "Braving the stormy waters of XBLA and PSN: Smaller is NOT Easier.", Jonathon Blow revealed the budget of his hit downloadable title, Braid. The independent developer spent $200,000 on the game.
He mentioned that it's possible to create games for a lot less. In fact, it wouldn't have cost him nearly as much if he had created the art himself rather than spending the majority of it on hiring an artist. "The game wouldn't have been as good, but it would have made profit," Blow said.
"Also, a lot of that money was spent because I didn't want to live in a shack somewhere... It doesn't require $200,000 to make a game. It requires a PC, a dev kit and enough money to live on for the time it takes to develop, plus extra time because it will always slip. If you can live for three years at your Mom's house, you can make a game for free."
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That budget seems on-par with the estimated budget of Icarian: Kindred Spirits ($140-210k), but looks a little high compared to World of Goo (just under $100k).
In others interviews he has said he was very satisfied with his take from Braid. he said he was living as well now as oif he had had a "high paying" salary during the time he was developing the game.
He's just saying that he's been spending a lot of money to develop the game that wasn't required. However, he didn't spend that money on art, it would have been as good.
Yes it was worded badly and made it seem like he was skirting around unprofitability... but on a budget that small he easily made a profit. (assuming he didn't give some of it to a publisher?)
Actually, he recently stated that Braid has been "very profitable," and has earned him more money than if he had been working at a high-paying job during the entire development period.
@ Arkk, over $4 million in revenue.
I don't think that's what he meant--I think all he was trying to say was that he could still have made a profitable game if he didn't spend quite as much.
Now.... how much has it made so far? 200K to make...
"The game wouldn't have been as good, but it would have made profit," This makes it seem that he hasn't made a profit yet.
