Lost Planet lost $40 million to find success
A Forbes report states that Capcom spent $40 million on Lost Planet. That may seem like a nice chunk of change, but it's not the kicker. The thing is that Lost Planet, the actual game, cost $20 million. Another $20 million was spent on the advertising, marketing, parties and promotions. Spending as much on marketing as the cost of developing the game, now that is hardcore and it was all worth it.
Capcom already shipped 1 million units of Lost Planet before the game's Jan. 12 launch, probably feeling confident following Dead Rising'ssuccess, which was based far more on old-school buzz post-E3 (may she rest in peace). The new-school approach by Capcom, according to Forbes, is the work of Mark Beaumont.
Beaumont, 51, has been around the ad biz for a bit. He changed the way Capcom marketed in the West, Beaumont says, "They advertised like it was 1985 ... It was all very formulaic." According to Forbes, gaming magazines have lost relevance and MTV isn't hitting the right demographic. Beaumont wanted the Lost Planet demo on Xbox Live, commercials in movie theaters showing Casino Royale and other places of relevance. That Beaumont may be a sneaky fellow, but he's getting sales results out of a pretty unremarkable game.
