Destiny could cost Activision $500 million

Bungie's highly anticipated MMO shooter Destiny is due out this September, but when it's all said and done the game's publisher, Activision, could very well have spent around $500 million between development and promotion for the game.

The jawdropping number, reported by Reuters, apparently comes from the mouth of Activision CEO Bobby Kotick who spoke during the Milken conference in Los Angeles last week. In a follow-up, a company spokesperson reaffirmed the number was accurate, but that it also included marketing, packaging, infrastructure support, royalties, and other costs. Either way, it's a giant number that dwarfs even some of the biggest Hollywood spenders.

If all goes as planned, it will be money well spent. In yesterday's Q1 2014 earnings call, Kotick expressed company beliefs that Destiny "will become our next new $1 billion franchise."

Activision Chief Financial Officer Dennis Durkin added: "In Q3, we expect the release Destiny, which we think will be the biggest new video-game IP launch in history. However, we expect limited operating income in the quarter from Destiny as we will incur significant marketing and development expenses consistent with launching the property of this scale. We will also be ramping our spending ahead of our other large Q4 launches."

Destiny is set to release on September 9, 2014 for Xbox One, Xbox 360, PS4, and PS3. A beta is believed to begin in July, according to Activision's presentation shown during the earnings call.