"Call of Duty Unveils Huge Development Costs"

Summary

• Call of Duty games have set new records with budgets reaching up to $700 million.
• Black Ops Cold War's $700 million budget surpasses even Star Citizen.
• Rising AAA game budgets highlight the escalating costs in the video game industry.

Activision has disclosed the budgets of three Call of Duty games, with some reaching impressively high figures ranging from $450 to $700 million. These massive Call of Duty development budgets mark the highest ever seen for the franchise, with Black Ops Cold War at the top.

Creating video games is a complex process that spans several years and requires substantial financial investment. While indie games often manage to thrive on smaller budgets funded through platforms like Kickstarter, the AAA gaming sector operates on a completely different scale. The costs associated with blockbuster titles have been steadily increasing, outpacing even those games once considered expensive. Among the priciest games ever developed are Red Dead Redemption 2, Cyberpunk 2077, and The Last of Us Part 2. However, these pale in comparison to the recently unveiled budgets of the Call of Duty series.

According to Game File, Patrick Kelly, the head of creative for the Call of Duty franchise at Activision, disclosed in a California court filing on December 23 the budgets for Black Ops 3, Modern Warfare (2019), and Black Ops Cold War. Black Ops Cold War topped the list with a development cost exceeding $700 million. This game, which took years to develop, sold over 30 million copies. Following closely is Modern Warfare, with a $640 million development budget and sales of 41 million copies. Lastly, Black Ops 3, despite having the lowest budget of the three at $450 million, still significantly outpaces the $220 million spent on The Last of Us Part 2.

Black Ops Cold War Exceeded $700 Million in Development Costs

The budget for Black Ops Cold War is the highest ever recorded for a video game, even surpassing Star Citizen's $644 million in development costs. This is particularly notable because Black Ops Cold War was funded by a single company, unlike Star Citizen, which has been crowdfunded over an 11-year period.

It's fascinating to speculate on how much the budgets for games like Black Ops 6 might have increased since Black Ops Cold War's release in 2020. Budgets are clearly on an upward trajectory. For context, Final Fantasy 7, released in 1997 and celebrated for its groundbreaking graphics and technology, cost $40 million to develop—a figure considered enormous at the time. Today, such an amount seems modest when compared to the current budgets of AAA titles. Activision's recent budget disclosures serve as a clear indicator of the rising costs within the video game industry.