The following is a list of the most expensive video games ever developed, with a minimum total cost of US$ 50 million and sorted by the total cost adjusted for inflation . Most game budgets are not disclosed, so this list is not indicative of industry trends.
– Indicates ongoing costs of development post-release
Analyst estimations [ edit ]
The following budgets have been estimated by press outlets without naming any specific analyst or firm.
^ Includes ongoing costs as of 2024[update] [ 1]
^ US$100 million for initial development, US$200 million annually for ongoing development as of 2024[update] [ 2] [ 3] [ 1]
^ Playable elements of the game were first released in 2013,[ 4] but the game remains in early access , with no final release date announced.[ 5] Costs representative of development up to 2022.[ 6]
^ Approximately US$316 million for original game[ 8] and US$125.9 million for Update 2.0 upgrade and Phantom Liberty downloadable content [ 9]
^ Update 2.0 upgrade and Phantom Liberty downloadable content
^ US$40.9 million for Update 2.0 and US$62.7 million for Phantom Liberty DLC[ 9]
^ Unannounced game[ 10]
^ a b Projected figure
^ US$19.3 million for marketing and US$5.1 million for production of physical copies[ 40]
^ Licensing fee [ 41] [ 42]
^ Chris Baker, former interactive manager at Marvel Games , disputed Deadpool ' s US$100 million figure in 2024 and claimed the actual budget was "not even close".[ 66]
^ a b Wood, Austin (September 19, 2024). "It's taken 4 years and roughly $900 million, but Genshin Impact is a better open-world RPG than ever after update 5.0" . GamesRadar+ . Retrieved October 28, 2024 .
^ Carpenter, Nicole (February 6, 2024). "Genshin Impact hackers sued in Canadian court" . Polygon . Archived from the original on February 7, 2024. Retrieved February 7, 2024 .
^ "Genshin Lawsuit via Polygon" . Retrieved February 7, 2024 .
^ Rehard, Jef (August 22, 2013). "Gamescom 2013: Roberts demos Star Citizen's hangar module" . Engadget . Retrieved September 8, 2022 .
^ Lanier, Liz (May 6, 2019). " 'Star Citizen': Still No Release Date in Sight, Work Environment is 'Chaotic' (Report)" . Variety . Retrieved September 8, 2022 .
^ a b c d "Cloud Imperium Financials for 2022" . Cloud Imperium Games. January 1, 2024. Retrieved February 8, 2024 .
^ a b Williams, Hayley (March 19, 2024). "Monopoly Go Devs Spent More On Marketing Than It Cost To Develop The Last Of Us 2" . GameSpot . Archived from the original on March 19, 2024. Retrieved March 28, 2024 .
^ a b c "2020 results" (PDF) . cdprojekt.com . April 2021. p. 2. Retrieved September 13, 2021 .
^ a b c Dinsdale, Ryan (October 6, 2023). "CD Projekt Spent Roughly $125 Million Turning Cyberpunk 2077 Around Post-Launch" . IGN . Retrieved October 25, 2023 .
^ a b c d Parijat, Shubhankar (December 19, 2023). "Marvel's Spider-Man 2 Had a Total Budget of $315 Million" . GamingBolt .
^ a b c Fritz, Ben (November 18, 2009). "Video game borrows page from Hollywood playbook" . Los Angeles Times . Archived from the original on March 30, 2019. Retrieved October 11, 2021 .
^ "Essential 50: Final Fantasy VII" . 1UP.com. Archived from the original on July 21, 2012. Retrieved April 22, 2013 .
^ a b "Final Fantasy 7: An oral history" . Polygon. January 9, 2017. Retrieved February 2, 2018 .
^ Stanton, Rich (June 2, 2013). "Final Fantasy 7 retrospective" . Eurogamer.net. Retrieved March 20, 2014 .
^ a b c d Wood, Austin (June 28, 2023). "PlayStation accidentally reveals $200m+ development costs for Horizon Forbidden West and The Last of Us Part 2" . GamesRadar+ . Future plc . Archived from the original on June 28, 2023. Retrieved June 29, 2023 .
^ a b c "What's it's really like to work in Game industry" . YouTube . July 7, 2015. Event occurs at 42:38. Retrieved September 13, 2021 .
^ Parijat, Shubhankar (December 19, 2023). "Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales Has Sold Over 10.2 Million Units" . GamingBolt .
^ Pham, Alex (May 21, 2012). "Bungie-Activision contract" . Los Angeles Times . Retrieved December 2, 2014 .
^ Middler, Jordan (January 15, 2023). "The Callisto Protocol reportedly hasn't met publisher sales expectations" . Video Games Chronicle . 1981 Media. Archived from the original on January 15, 2023. Retrieved March 25, 2024 .
^ a b Dring, Christopher (May 11, 2018). "Eidos Montreal: "We have to try new models for single-player games" " . GamesIndustry.biz . Gamer Network. Archived from the original on May 11, 2018. Retrieved May 12, 2018 .
^ a b "Dead Space 2 Dev Says Game Cost $60M To Make And Sold Millions, But Failed Commercially" . Retrieved August 18, 2018 .
^ Yin-Poole, Wesley (March 22, 2024). "Even Will Smith Couldn't Save Zombie Survival Game Undawn, Which 'Flopped Spectacularly' " . IGN . Retrieved March 24, 2024 .
^ Androvitch, Mark (April 30, 2008). "GTA IV: Most expensive game ever developed?" . Games Industry International.
^ "EA CCO: Battlefield 4 budget was $100 million" . bfcentral . March 14, 2014. Archived from the original on October 23, 2016. Retrieved August 25, 2021 .
^ a b " 'I've Never Seen It This Bad:' Game Developers Explain the Huge Layoffs Hitting Riot, Epic, and More - IGN" . IGN . February 12, 2024. Retrieved February 13, 2024 .
^ a b Sheffield, Brandon (March 2, 2011). "GDC 2011: Yu Suzuki: 'Sega Will Probably Let Me Make Shenmue 3' " . Gamasutra.com. Retrieved March 18, 2014 .
^ Robinson, Martin (June 22, 2015). "Yu Suzuki wants $10 million to make a truly open world Shenmue 3" . Eurogamer .
^ Makuch, Eddie (September 9, 2015). "This is How Much The Witcher 3 Cost to Make" . GameSpot . CBS Interactive . Retrieved August 25, 2021 .
^ a b c "How Much Does It Cost To Make A Big Video Game?" . Kotaku . January 15, 2014. Retrieved October 4, 2014 .
^ Mosca, Marco (June 18, 2013). "Watch Dogs, le très gros budget d'Ubisoft" . Challenges. Archived from the original on May 14, 2016. Retrieved March 20, 2014 .
^ "Ubisoft discusses next-generation game budgets" . Eurogamer.net . May 16, 2012. Retrieved December 27, 2018 .
^ Parijat, Shubhankar (December 19, 2023). "Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart Sold 2.2 Million Units, Incurred an $8 Million Loss" . GamingBolt .
^ Remo, Chris (November 5, 2009). "Yamauchi: Gran Turismo 5's Development Cost Hit $60 Million" . Gamasutra.com. Archived from the original on May 11, 2012. Retrieved March 18, 2014 .
^ Crecente, Brian. "The four lives of Epic Games" . Polygon . Retrieved March 27, 2018 . By the end of the cycle, Gears of War 3 cost about four or five times more than the original to make.
^ Makuch, Eddie (January 9, 2017). "Gears of War: Judgment Cost $60 Million and Made $100 Million, Dev Says" . GameSpot . CBS Interactive . Retrieved August 26, 2021 .
^ a b c Purchese, Robert (April 19, 2013). "Heavy Rain cost €16.7 million to make and made Sony "more than €100 million" " . Eurogamer.net. Retrieved March 18, 2014 .
^ a b c "Heavy Rain cost $52 million but made $130 million, you do the math" . Engadget . April 22, 2013.
^ Alder, Davon (July 29, 2000). "Square Haven News / NTV Tokyo Interviews Hironobu Sakaguchi" . squarehaven.com. Retrieved April 1, 2016 .
^ "Investor Who Risked It All on 'Wukong' Scores Another Sales Win" . Bloomberg News . September 5, 2024. Retrieved September 10, 2024 .
^ a b c Blazewicz, Jacob (October 24, 2023). "Lords of the Fallen Devs Reveal Sales and Announce Major Changes [Update]" . Gamepressure . Retrieved October 25, 2023 .
^ "E.T. Starring in Sales of Toys" . The New York Times . December 13, 1982. pp. D1, D8. Archived from the original on May 14, 2020.
^ Phipps, Keith (February 2, 2005). "Howard Scott Warshaw" . A.V. Club. Retrieved June 16, 2016 .
^ "Darksiders 2's $50 Million Budget Was "Ridiculous," Nordic Games CEO Says" .
^ "Half-Life 2: $40 million in, still Steaming forward" . Eurogamer. March 22, 2004. Retrieved June 16, 2016 .
^ Eisenbeis, Richard (October 17, 2014). "The Long Development of Korea's Next Big MMORPG" . Kotaku . Retrieved July 11, 2022 .
^ Plunkett, Luke (April 13, 2010). "Why The Halo MMO Was Cancelled" . Kotaku. Archived from the original on June 19, 2018. Retrieved April 12, 2016 .
^ Frank, Allegra (May 12, 2016). "Report: Fable Legends was a $75M project 'nobody' wanted to work on" . Polygon . Retrieved June 7, 2016 .
^ Zelfden, N. Van (February 16, 2009). "What's Killing the Video-Game Business?" . Slate . ISSN 1091-2339 . Retrieved August 26, 2015 .
^ Schreier, Jason (November 3, 2021). "Take-Two's 2K Cancels $53 Million Game From Hangar 13" . Bloomberg News . Retrieved November 8, 2021 .
^ "GTA V dev costs over $137 million, says analyst" . gamesindustry.biz . February 1, 2013. Retrieved January 2, 2017 .
^ a b Takahashi, Dean (October 31, 2018). "Red Dead Redemption 2 could hit 20 million in sales — and turn a profit — by December" . VentureBeat . Archived from the original on November 1, 2018. Retrieved March 1, 2021 .
^ Snider, Mike (October 26, 2015). "Microsoft's latest 'Halo' video game aims to power up Xbox One system" . USA Today . Archived from the original on October 26, 2015. Retrieved December 4, 2022 .
^ Bolding, Jonathan (November 7, 2020). "Square Enix reports $48M loss following release of underperforming Marvel's Avengers" . PC Gamer . Retrieved November 9, 2020 .
^ a b Khan, Imad (August 1, 2020). "Like Old Hollywood Movies, Video Games Get a Polish for New Audiences" . The New York Times . Retrieved December 15, 2022 .
^ Nunneley, Stephany (September 8, 2011). "Max Payne 3 could cost Rockstar $105 million to develop, says analyst" . VG247 . Retrieved August 29, 2021 .
^ Handrahan, Matthew (March 27, 2013). "Single-player IP will cause problems for Square Enix" . Gamesindustry.biz . Gamer Network . Retrieved August 29, 2021 .
^ Pham, Alex; Friedman, Josh (September 24, 2007). " 'Halo 3' guns for $150 million" . Los Angeles Times . Retrieved December 29, 2022 .
^ Niemi, Liisa (October 27, 2023). "Alan Wake II on yksi Suomen kalleimmista kulttuurituotteista, ja siitä voi tulla Remedylle kultakaivos" [Alan Wake II is one of the most expensive cultural products in Finland, and it can become a gold mine for Remedy]. Helsingin Sanomat (in Finnish). Archived from the original on October 27, 2023. Retrieved June 30, 2024 .
^ " 'Grand Theft Auto IV' rolling out" . East Bay Times . April 28, 2008. Archived from the original on March 31, 2024. Retrieved March 31, 2024 .
^ Travers, Alan (February 1, 2013). "GTA 5' Costs $265 Million To Develop And Market, Making It The Most Expensive Video Game Ever Produced: Report" . GamesIndustry.biz . Archived from the original on February 4, 2013. Retrieved September 9, 2013 .
^ Fritz, Ben (January 20, 2012). "Star Wars: The Old Republic — the story behind a galactic gamble" . Los Angeles Times . Archived from the original on October 6, 2014. Retrieved October 4, 2014 .
^ Mackey, Bob (August 14, 2014). Gaming's Greatest Flops: Too Human . USgamer .
^ Schiesel, Seth (May 16, 2010). "Video Game Review - 'Red Dead Redemption' Brings Old West to Life" . The New York Times . Archived from the original on February 28, 2014. Retrieved September 4, 2014 .
^ Stuart, Keith (August 27, 2010). "Realtime Worlds: an inside story" . The Guardian . Archived from the original on April 7, 2015. Retrieved September 29, 2015 .
^ Fritz, Ben (August 25, 2013). "Disney Tries Anew to Raise Its Score on Digital Games" . The Wall Street Journal .
^ Yarwood, Jack (July 30, 2024). "Did Activision's Deadpool Game Really Cost $100 Million To Make?" . Time Extension . Archived from the original on July 30, 2024. Retrieved July 31, 2024 .
^ "20 of the Most Expensive Games Ever Made" . GameSpot . Archived from the original on June 2, 2015. Retrieved June 8, 2016 .
^ Kent, Gordon (March 1, 2017). "Edmonton's BioWare uses upcoming release of Mass Effect: Andromeda to push for industry tax credits" . Edmonton Journal . Archived from the original on June 20, 2018. Retrieved September 22, 2018 .
^ Bercovici, Jeff (November 26, 2012). "With 'Defiance,' Comcast's Syfy Bets $100M On Convergence Of TV And Videogames" . Forbes . Retrieved April 19, 2016 .
^ Evenson, Laura (September 9, 1994). "Video games getting movie-style premieres" . San Francisco Chronicle . p. 15. Retrieved October 10, 2021 – via Newspapers.com .
^ Kronke, David (October 15, 1994). "It's Gonna Be a Video Jungle Out There: Video-game stars Donkey Kong and Sonic the Hedgehog will battle it out with new games backed by tech advances and mega-marketing" . Los Angeles Times . Archived from the original on September 18, 2015. Retrieved May 26, 2020 .
^ "Video game set during Cold War" . Los Angeles Times . November 9, 2010. p. 23. Retrieved November 22, 2021 – via Newspapers.com .
^ Pham, Alex; Fritz, Ben (January 11, 2011). "DC Universe Online: $50 million gamble aims for audience that World of Warcraft 'can't touch' " . Hero Complex – movies, comics, pop culture – Los Angeles Times . Archived from the original on January 19, 2014. Retrieved July 5, 2016 .
^ Geoghegan, Kev (May 27, 2011). "Will L.A. Noire change the game for actors?" . BBC News.
^ Casey Corr, O. (December 16, 1990). "Move To Level Two - Ho A Hurdle, Dodge A Fireball On The Way To Finding The Spirit Of America's Favorite Toy" . Seattle Times . Archived from the original on June 28, 2018. Retrieved June 27, 2018 .
^ "Nintendo fuels "Mario Mania" with "Super Mario Bros. 3" " . The Indianapolis Star . April 9, 1990. p. 22. Retrieved February 20, 2021 .
^ Long, Andrew. "Financial Fantasy X" . RPGamer. Archived from the original on February 6, 2009. Retrieved November 21, 2008 .
^ Ward, David (September 24, 2007). "Microsoft boosts 'Halo' hype" . The Hollywood Reporter . Retrieved December 29, 2022 .
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