List of most expensive video games to develop

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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.

Name Year Developer Publisher Platform Development cost
(million US$)		 Marketing cost
(million US$)		 Total cost
(million US$)		 Total cost with 2018 inflation
(million US$)
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 2009 Infinity Ward Activision PC, PS3, Xbox 360 50 200 250[1] 285
Grand Theft Auto V 2013 Rockstar North Rockstar Games PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One 137[2] 128 265[3] 278
Final Fantasy VII 1997 Square Square, Sony Computer Entertainment (PS), Eidos Interactive (PC) PS, PS4, PC, iOS, Android 40-45[4][5] 40-100[6][5] 80-145 122-221
Star Wars: The Old Republic 2011 BioWare Electronic Arts, LucasArts PC 200[7] 200+[7] 218+
Halo 2 2004 Bungie Microsoft Studios PC, Xbox, Xbox One 40[8] 80[9] 120[8] 168
Destiny 2014 Bungie Activision PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One <140[10] <140[10] 140[10][11][12] 145
Dead Space 2 2011 Visceral Games Electronic Arts PC, PS3, Xbox 360 60[13] 60 120 131
Grand Theft Auto IV 2008 Rockstar North Rockstar Games PS3, Xbox 360, PC 100+[14] 114+
APB: All Points Bulletin 2010 Realtime Worlds Electronic Arts, Realtime Worlds, Deep Silver (PS4, XB1) PC, PS4, Xbox One 100[15] 112
Max Payne 3 2012 Rockstar Studios Rockstar Games PC, Xbox 360, PS3 105[16] 105[16] 112
Red Dead Redemption 2010 Rockstar San Diego Rockstar Games PS3, Xbox 360 80-100[17] 80-100[17] 90-112
Shenmue 1999 Sega AM2 Sega Dreamcast, PS4, PC, Xbox One 47-70[18][19] 47-70[18] 69-103
Battlefield 4 2013 EA DICE Electronic Arts PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One 100[20] 100 105
Deadpool 2013 High Moon Studios Activision PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One, PC 100[21] 105
Disney Infinity 2013 Avalanche Software, Altron (3DS) Disney Interactive Studios PS3, Xbox 360, Wii, Wii U, 3DS, PC 100[22] 105
Tomb Raider 2013 Crystal Dynamics Square Enix PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One 100[23] 105
Enter the Matrix 2003 Shiny Entertainment Atari, Inc. GameCube, PC, PS2, Xbox 20[24] 67[24] 89
Defiance 2013 Trion Worlds, Human Head Studios Trion Worlds PC, PS3, Xbox 360 80 80[25] 84
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 2015 CD Projekt Red CD Projekt PC, Xbox One, PS4 46[26] 35[27] 81 84
Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain 2015 Kojima Productions Konami PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One 80 80[28] 83
Pokémon Red/Blue 1996 Game Freak Nintendo Game Boy 50[29] 50+ 78+
Watch Dogs 2014 Ubisoft Montreal Ubisoft PC, PS3, PS4, Wii U, Xbox 360, Xbox One 68[30] 68+ 70+
Crysis 3 2013 Crytek Electronic Arts PS3, Xbox 360, PC 66[31][32] 66 69
Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Future Soldier 2012 Ubisoft Paris, Red Storm Entertainment, Ubisoft Bucharest, Ubisoft Kiev (PC) Ubisoft PC, Xbox 360, PS3 65[33] 65[33] 69
Too Human 2008 Silicon Knights Microsoft Game Studios Xbox 360 60-100[34] 60-100 68-114
Gran Turismo 5 2010 Polyphony Digital Sony Computer Entertainment PS3 60[35] 60 67
Rift 2011 Trion Worlds Trion Worlds PC 50 10-20 60-70[36] 65-76
Gears of War: Judgment 2013 Epic Games, People Can Fly Microsoft Studios Xbox 360 60[37] 63
Heavy Rain 2010 Quantic Dream Sony Computer Entertainment PS3, PS4 21.8[38][39] 30.4[38][39] 52.2[38][39] 59
Final Fantasy IX 2000 Square Square PS, PS4, PC, iOS, Android 40[40] 40+ 57+
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial 1982 Atari, Inc. Atari, Inc. Atari 2600 22[41] 56
DC Universe Online 2011 Daybreak Game Company Daybreak Game Company, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox One 50[42] 50[42] 54
L.A. Noire 2011 Team Bondi Rockstar Games PS3, PS4, Switch, Xbox 360, Xbox One, PC 50[43] 50 54
Darksiders II 2012 Vigil Games THQ PS3, PS4, PC, Wii U, Xbox 360, Xbox One 50[44] 53
Half-Life 2 2004 Valve Corporation Valve Corporation PC, PS3, Xbox, Xbox 360 40[45] 40 52
World of Warcraft 2004 Blizzard Entertainment Blizzard Entertainment PC 40[46] 52

Cancelled

Known cancelled projects with a cost of more than 50 million US$
Name Year

started

 Year

cancelled

 Developer Publisher Platform Development Cost

(million US$)

 Marketing Cost

(million US$)

 Total Cost

(million US$)

 Total with 2017 inflation

(million US$)

Halo MMO Cancelled ? Ensemble Studios Microsoft Game Studios PC 90[47] 90 102
Fable Legends Cancelled 2016 Lionhead Studios Microsoft Studios PC, Xbox One 75[48] 75+ 76+
This Is Vegas Cancelled ? Surreal Software Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment PC, PS3, Xbox 360 40-50[49] 40-50 45-56

References

  1. ↑ Funk, John (November 19, 2009). "How much did MW2 Cost?". The Escapist. Retrieved October 4, 2014.
  2. ↑ "GTA V dev costs over $137 million, says analyst". gamesindustry.biz. February 1, 2013. Retrieved January 2, 2017.
  3. ↑ 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.
  4. ↑ "Essential 50: Final Fantasy VII". 1UP.com. Archived from the original on July 21, 2012. Retrieved April 22, 2013.
  5. 1 2 "Final Fantasy 7: An oral history". Polygon. Jan 9, 2017. Retrieved Feb 2, 2018.
  6. ↑ Stanton, Rich (June 2, 2013). "Final Fantasy 7 retrospective". Eurogamer.net. Retrieved March 20, 2014.
  7. 1 2 Fritz, Ben (January 20, 2012). "Star Wars: The Old Republic — the story behind a galactic gamble". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved October 4, 2014.
  8. 1 2 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YFC3h8GACWE 42m 38s
  9. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YFC3h8GACWE 42m 39s
  10. 1 2 3 Pham, Alex (May 21, 2012). "Bungie-Activision contract". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved December 2, 2014.
  11. ↑ "Activision CEO Bobby Kotick stated that the total cost was $500 million, but Bungie's Eric Osborne stated that the budget was "Nowhere near $500 Million"". Retrieved October 19, 2015.
  12. ↑ Karmali, Luke (May 6, 2014). "Destiny is a $500 Million Gamble for Activision, says Kotick". IGN. Retrieved September 8, 2014.
  13. ↑ "Dead Space 2 Dev Says Game Cost $60M To Make And Sold Millions, But Failed Commercially". Retrieved 2018-08-18.
  14. ↑ Androvitch, Mark (April 30, 2008). "GTA IV: Most expensive game ever developed?". Games Industry International.
  15. ↑ Stuart, Keith (August 27, 2010). "Realtime Worlds: an inside story". theguardian.com. Guardian Media Group. Archived from the original on April 7, 2015. Retrieved September 29, 2015.
  16. 1 2 "Max Payne 3's Sales May Be Hitting Rockstar Where It Hurts". www.gametrailers.com. June 15, 2012.
  17. 1 2 Schiesel, Seth (May 16, 2010). "Way Down Deep in the Wild, Wild West". The New York Times.
  18. 1 2 Sheffield, Brandon (March 2, 2011). "GDC 2011: Yu Suzuki: 'Sega Will Probably Let Me Make Shenmue 3'". Gamasutra.com. Retrieved March 18, 2014.
  19. ↑ Yu Suzuki wants $10 million to make a truly open world Shenmue 3
  20. ↑ (March 14, 2014). EA CCO: Battlefield 4 budget was $100 million. bfcentral.
  21. ↑ "20 of the Most Expensive Games Ever Made". GameSpot. Retrieved June 8, 2016.
  22. ↑ Fritz, Ben (August 25, 2013). "Disney Tries Anew to Raise Its Score on Digital Games". The Wall Street Journal.
  23. ↑ Phillips, Tom (January 17, 2014). "Tomb Raider finally achieved profitability "by the end of last year"". Eurogamer.
  24. 1 2 Pham, Alex (May 16, 2003). "'Enter the Matrix': An alignment of the digital planets". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved June 16, 2016.
  25. ↑ Bercovici, Jeff (November 26, 2012). "With 'Defiance,' Comcast's Syfy Bets $100M On Convergence Of TV And Videogames". Forbes. Retrieved April 19, 2016.
  26. ↑ "CD PROJEKT Group - first half of 2015".
  27. ↑ "The Witcher 3 sells 6m copies in six weeks". Retrieved August 26, 2015.
  28. ↑ Yin-Poole, Wesley (August 3, 2015). "New article on Konami paints a bleak picture". Eurogamer. Gamer Network. Retrieved August 3, 2015.
  29. ↑ Tobin, Joseph Jay (2004). Pikachu's Global Adventure: The Rise and Fall of Pokémon. Duke University Press. p. 66. ISBN 0-8223-3287-6. Retrieved November 29, 2014.
  30. ↑ Mosca, Marco (June 18, 2013). "Watch Dogs, le très gros budget d'Ubisoft". Challenges. Retrieved March 20, 2014.
  31. ↑ Nutt, Christian (1 March 2013). "What's holding back Crysis 3?". Gamasutra. Retrieved 19 July 2015.
  32. ↑ Charles Onyett. "GC 2008: Crysis Cost 22 Million to Make".
  33. 1 2 "Ubisoft discusses next-generation game budgets". Eurogamer.net. May 16, 2012. Retrieved October 4, 2014.
  34. ↑ Mackey, Bob (August 14, 2014). Gaming's Greatest Flops: Too Human. USgamer.
  35. ↑ Remo, Chris (November 5, 2009). "Yamauchi: Gran Turismo 5's Development Cost Hit $60 Million". Gamasutra.com. Retrieved March 18, 2014.
  36. ↑ "How Much Does It Cost To Make A Big Video Game?". Kotaku. Retrieved October 4, 2014.
  37. ↑ http://www.glixel.com/interviews/epics-tim-sweeney-on-vr-and-the-future-of-civilization-w459561
  38. 1 2 3 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.
  39. 1 2 3 https://www.engadget.com/2013/04/21/heavy-rain-cost-52-million-but-made-130-million-you-do-the-ma/
  40. ↑ Alder, Davon (July 29, 2000). "Square Haven News / NTV Tokyo Interviews Hironobu Sakaguchi". squarehaven.com. Retrieved April 1, 2016.
  41. ↑ Phipps, Keith (February 2, 2005). "Howard Scott Warshaw". A.V. Club. Retrieved June 16, 2016.
  42. 1 2 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. Retrieved July 5, 2016.
  43. ↑ Geoghegan, Kev (May 27, 2011). "Will L.A. Noire change the game for actors?". BBC News.
  44. ↑ https://www.gamespot.com/articles/darksiders-2s-50-million-budget-was-ridiculous-nor/1100-6422461/
  45. ↑ "Half-Life 2: $40 million in, still Steaming forward". Eurogamer. March 22, 2004. Retrieved June 16, 2016.
  46. ↑ "MMO Budget Busters". MMOHuts. May 10, 2010. Retrieved February 2, 2016.
  47. ↑ Plunkett, Luke (April 13, 2010). "Why The Halo MMO Was Cancelled". Kotaku. Retrieved April 12, 2016.
  48. ↑ Frank, Allegra (May 12, 2016). "Report: Fable Legends was a $75M project 'nobody' wanted to work on". Polygon. Retrieved June 7, 2016.
  49. ↑ Zelfden, N. Van (February 16, 2009). "What's Killing the Video-Game Business?". Slate. ISSN 1091-2339. Retrieved August 26, 2015.
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