The Godfather Delay Costs $800 Million

After the much publicized delay, the video game version of The Godfather will be released on March 21 in North America and March 24 in Europe, much to the delight of Corleone-loving gamers. Though Electronic Arts (EA) was very much elated when it secured its license, it wasn’t happy about how it turned out, financially. After spending close to $20 million for developing the game, the delay has caused EA shares to plummet by 5% last July, losing more than $800 million of the companyÂ’s value. And if that’s not enough, EA had to succumb to price pressures, lowering its price from $49.95 to $39.95, because consumers are not willing to pay higher prices for current-generation games now that Xbox 360 is out in the market, and two other next-generation games will become available this year. The Godfather game for the Xbox 360 will be available later this year.

“The game is the most complex yet attempted by the publisher – it is the first of its “open world” games where players can take a number of different directions in the mafia environment, rather than climb through levels. It has three different endings, including one that is close to that of the original movie.”

The price pressure is not as daunting as the expectations of the game. With the long delay, consumers should be assured that at the very least, EA would  not mess up the franchise.

After the much publicized delay, the video game version of The Godfather will be released on March 21 in North America and March 24 in Europe, much to the delight of Corleone-loving gamers. Though Electronic Arts (EA) was very much elated when it secured its license, it wasn’t happy about how it turned out, financially. After spending close to $20 million for developing the game, the delay has caused EA shares to plummet by 5% last July, losing more than $800 million of the companyÂ’s value. And if that’s not enough, EA had to succumb to price pressures, lowering its price from $49.95 to $39.95, because consumers are not willing to pay higher prices for current-generation games now that Xbox 360 is out in the market, and two other next-generation games will become available this year. The Godfather game for the Xbox 360 will be available later this year.

“The game is the most complex yet attempted by the publisher – it is the first of its “open world” games where players can take a number of different directions in the mafia environment, rather than climb through levels. It has three different endings, including one that is close to that of the original movie.”

The price pressure is not as daunting as the expectations of the game. With the long delay, consumers should be assured that at the very least, EA would  not mess up the franchise.