Activision reportedly spending $500 million to launch Destiny

Call of Duty publisher Activision is about to spend half of a billion dollars to blaze a potential path to higher profits over the next 10 years.

At the Milken Institute conference in Los Angeles last week, Activision chief executive officer Bobby Kotick revealed that his company is spending $500 million to develop, market, and support the upcoming sci-fi shooter Destiny, according to Reuters. The new game from Halo developer Bungie is likely going to attract a huge audience when it debuts on Sept. 9, but that budget is raising eyebrows. Most big-budget Hollywood blockbusters don’t cost half as much as that, and publisher Take-Two spent approximately $260 million on Grand Theft Auto V, which was 2013’s most-successful game. Destiny (and nearly every other game) is unlikely to sell as well as GTA V.