Record-Breaking Call of Duty Budgets: A Look at the Rising Costs of AAA Game Development
Recent disclosures reveal staggering development budgets for several Call of Duty titles, reaching unprecedented heights within the video game industry. Budgets for three specific games – Black Ops 3, Modern Warfare (2019), and Black Ops Cold War – have been revealed, ranging from $450 million to a jaw-dropping $700 million.
This unprecedented spending underscores the escalating costs associated with creating modern AAA titles. While indie games often thrive on smaller budgets secured through crowdfunding, the landscape of blockbuster game development is vastly different. The budgets for major releases have consistently climbed year over year, dwarfing even the previously considered "expensive" games of the past. Games like Red Dead Redemption 2, Cyberpunk 2077, and The Last of Us Part 2, while costly, pale in comparison to these newly revealed Call of Duty figures.
Activision's head of creative for the Call of Duty franchise, Patrick Kelly, revealed these figures in a December 23rd California court filing. Black Ops Cold War, with its over $700 million budget, stands out as the most expensive video game ever developed, surpassing even the long-running crowdfunding project, Star Citizen, which boasts a development cost of $644 million. The fact that Black Ops Cold War achieved this monumental budget from a single company, unlike Star Citizen's multi-year crowdfunding campaign, is particularly noteworthy.
The sheer scale of these budgets prompts speculation about future Call of Duty installments. Considering the annual increase in development costs, the budget for a future Black Ops 6 could be significantly higher. This trend is highlighted by comparing the $40 million budget of the groundbreaking 1997 release of Final Fantasy VII to today's AAA game costs. The difference is stark, providing undeniable evidence of the industry's escalating financial demands. The revealed Call of Duty budgets serve as a powerful illustration of this phenomenon.
