Activision Spending $500 Million on Developing and Promoting Bungie's Destiny

[Shawn Zipay]

According to a report from Reuters, Activision plans on spending a mere $500 million on developing and promoting Bungie's Destiny. That figure alone has the potential to break some industry records if everything pans out and goes anywhere near the $500 million figure that's being tossed around.

Naturally, this figure was revealed by everybody's favorite CEO, Bobby Kotick, during the Milken conference in Los Angeles this past week.

Investors hope that "Destiny," scheduled for release on September 9 from Bungie, the same studio that created Microsoft's best-selling "Halo" franchise, could re-invigorate Activision's revenue, which slid 6 percent in 2013.

The company signed a 10-year contract with Bungie in 2010 that gives it worldwide distribution rights and significant control over the potential franchise's development.

"If you're making a $500 million bet you can't take that chance with someone else's IP," Activision CEO told the Milken conference. "The stakes for us are getting bigger."

That $500 million figure is unprecedented on an unproven franchise, let alone for a single game. Just to break even on this, Activision will have to sell between 15-16 million units at $60 a pop. Most analysts agree that Destiny will not sell anywhere near that number of units. Some are projecting it will sell nearer to 8 million units, or about half of what Activision would need to sell to break even.