[plf]

How? I've just started experimenting with web development and I can't figure out how it could possibly cost that much. Maybe there is a whole world I haven't seen yet, but if they had used the latest open source libraries/frameworks that do half the work for you, would it have cost that much?

[unreal37]

I work in a digital agency, similar to the one who did this. 80% of the budget is spent in the requirements phase. More than a year doing designs, sending 20 people down to see the client every trip, business requirements gathering, market analysis, and such.

$18M over 24 months is only $750K per month burn rate. At the typical agency rate of $150/hr, this is 35 people working on this project. Only 2 of them are developers. :)