Riot, may I ask a business question?

Adanim·Feb 26, 2015·2 votes·729 views

What was your total investment in DJ Sona, as well as all the other skin tiers? I'm very curious about how much each one costs

Would love to hear back!

15 Comments

hüngFeb 26, 20152 votes

Lol it didnt take close to a year to make it

Drunk RummateFeb 26, 20152 votes

worker wages are generally something that's kept confidential to protect their privacy.

AdanimFeb 26, 20151 votes

{quoted}

worker wages are generally something that's kept confidential to protect their privacy.

Then I shall rephrase my question: What was the total investment of DJ Sona? Not broken down, just the total.

Drunk RummateFeb 26, 20152 votes

{quoted}

Then I shall rephrase my question: What was the total investment of DJ Sona? Not broken down, just the total.

If you don't count the investment in working capital (computers, software, the game itself) and only count wages then I'd expect it's not that expensive. Maybe a few hundred thousand at the most. It was probably 1 person who spent a week designing her frame, someone who spent 2 weeks on something else, etc. Really hard to nominalize that into a direct cost.

The real cost for a project like that is hidden in the working capital that I mentioned before, and since Riot already has invested in that up front it's even harder to assess exactly what DJ Sona cost them.

FHMarshyFeb 26, 20151 votes

I would have thought something like that is very hard to measure for the simple reason that you can't really measure how much a creative idea is.

AdanimFeb 26, 20151 votes

That's not what I'm asking. I'm asking about the hours spent on the skin, and the costs associated. (Ex: How much are the designers paid? The programmers? And others related).

My dad estimated a 1.2 million dollar cost on DJ Sona, considering it took you guys about a year-year and a half to create it, and I would like to know if that is relatively close to the actual cost, or far fetched in either direction (either too far above the actual cost or too far below it).

SlytherMinnFeb 26, 20151 votes

My guess is about $50,000. Mostly in labor. Anything more is not profitable. Keep in mind these labor hours would be for all design projects because the design team would be routinely testing with the coding/programming team, etc. Your dad is obviously not a business man, or at least a successful one.

Vampy3kFeb 26, 20151 votes

Yeah.. $50,000 for the DJs to work with them, audio work and recording space. Then add designers. Developers. QA. PianoMaster's dad probably wouldn't win the Price is Right because he went over, but you are likely waaaaay way under.

Edit: Math example. If 10,000 of League's several million players buys Sona in the first month alone, they make $300,000.

SlytherMinnFeb 26, 20151 votes

I'm a former DJ and small business owner. $50,000? More like $500 and right to say you worked on the game. Riot probably did it themselves, it's not hard.

The designers and developers are already on staff and in the budget. This project is part of their job, along with many other things.

Keep in mind the skin sales plummet after the first month, so yes, about $50,000 cost for a $300,000 income for a net profit of $250,000 is totally realistic.

Ice Weasel XFeb 26, 20151 votes

{quoted}

I'm a former DJ and small business owner. $50,000? More like $500 and right to say you worked on the game. Riot probably did it themselves, it's not hard.

The designers and developers are already on staff and in the budget. This project is part of their job, along with many other things.

Keep in mind the skin sales plummet after the first month, so yes, about $50,000 cost for a $300,000 income for a net profit of $250,000 is totally realistic.

As of May 2014, these were the publicly listed costs of hiring three of the groups involved:

Bassnectar: $100,000 - $150,000
The Crystal Method: $10,000 - $15,000
Pretty Lights: $150,000+

Those are appearance fees.

Would it cost less to hire them for content production? Most probably. $500? Most probably not. Creating new content usually takes longer than one of the events for which they charge the listed prices. If it's content they expect will make heavy sales, they're likely to have a contract stipulating a substantial return such as a large flat fee or a royalty-based payment. If they're still under contract to a publishing company/record label, then that company may be involved in inflating the costs.

SlytherMinnFeb 26, 20151 votes

Cite your sources.

Ice Weasel XFeb 26, 20151 votes

I linked my source, which itself cites other sources.

SlytherMinnFeb 27, 20151 votes

No, that source did not cite its source. It's high school gossip in terms of credibility.

AdanimFeb 26, 20151 votes

You are making a guess. As was my dad. I'm really asking for the actual information from Riot.

As a side note, my dad manages developers for a living. Not game developers, but developers. I would kindly ask that you not insult him. Actually, I would ask that you not insult anyone.

SlytherMinnFeb 26, 20151 votes

So he's a developer who leads a team. Yeah... that's not a business person. Not an insult, just the facts. His skill set is codes, not economics.