I've seen a few quick mentions of CiV being "profitable", and others of 500,00 boxed game sales and about the same on-line sales. If these numbers are nearly correct, it would seem to me that the game is closer to a failure financially.
My assumptions are that about $30 per game goes to the game publisher. This is roughly $30 million. Lots of money, right?
I have heard various numbers for the size of the team, but the number that seems most solid, correct me with better numbers if I'm wrong please, is about 180 before last summers 50 layoffs.
180 people, at $50,000 each/year (includes benefits etc. and this number is just a guess) is about $9 million a year. I have heard, just guessing again, that the development cycle was about three years......thats $27 million so far and it would be reasonable to expect at least 40 to continue for ongoing support/debug/patching. Thats another $2 million.
So my wild guesses give me a figure of $31 million expenses (not including any senior management fees) against current income of $30 million.
Unless sales continue for some 100,000 more copies (at full price), this game is likely to barely break even.
If my numbers are correct, I (sadly) see this game quickly orphaned and all support killed.