Blizzard Entertainment's cofounder Frank Pearce revealed that BlizzCon, the expo celebrating the Diablo, StarCraft and WarCraft games, is a loss in terms of financial gain.
"BlizzCon is operated at a substantial loss for the company," said Pearce at the Austin Game Developers Conference. "It's a huge marketing opportunity, so that the benefit we get out of that. But in terms of any financial gain, it actually is a loss for us."
No specific numbers were revealed, but with over 20,000 people purchasing a BlizzCon ticket ($125 a piece) along with the money gained from the DirecTV followers, there is a gain of at least $2,5 million.
However, Blizzard feels the huge marketing opportunity and the generated fan enthusiasm worth all the money. In a statement from the company, they say treat BlizzCon as an operating expense.
The bill for pulling off a BlizzCon event is, when looking at the expenses, not cheap. By renting the Anaheim Convention Center, providing close to 2,000 computers for tournaments, expos and demos, handing out a very generous prize purse for the eSport tournaments, the presumed netting.
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GameSpot.com - Source