News: Microsoft has Hollywood-sized marketing budget for Halo 2

The New York Times has taken a look at the marketing techniques Microsoft is using to promote the 3-D game Halo 2 and the X Box game console.

Development costs for many games are nearing $20 million dollars, but that can pale in comparison to the marketing dollars companies spend in an attempt to make their products break-out successes in the first few weeks of release. Halo 2, for example, has eaten up "tens of millions" of marketing dollars (the reporter was unable to determine if marketing for Halo 2 was more expensive than the development costs, which Microsoft declined to reveal). It seems the campaign has already been successful: 1.5 million people preordered the title, which is scheduled to be released Nov. 9. If all 1.5 million people pick up their $50 copies in the first few days, the gross would total $75 million, which is about the level of the opening weekend gross of the hit movie "The Incredibles," notes the article.

Heavy marketing for Halo 2 has another purpose beyond making money, says the New York Times. Halo 2 is an "exclusive" title, meaning that it is only being made for the X Box. Microsoft hopes to use the popularity of this title to encourage the sale of the X Box console and gain some ground against the more successful Sony PlayStation 2 console. Microsoft also hopes Halo 2 will increase interest in X Box Live, a networked gaming service.