Call of Duty Reveals Massive Development Budgets

Record-Breaking Call of Duty Budgets Reach Astronomical Heights

Recent disclosures reveal that Activision's Call of Duty franchise has shattered previous budget records, with development costs for some titles soaring to unprecedented levels. Budgets for three specific Call of Duty games ranged from $450 million to a staggering $700 million. This surpasses all previous franchise records, with Black Ops Cold War leading the pack.

The escalating costs of AAA game development are undeniable. While indie games often thrive on smaller, crowd-funded budgets, the blockbuster title landscape is a vastly different arena. Year after year, the budgets for major releases inflate, dwarfing even the "expensive" games of past generations. Games like Red Dead Redemption 2, Cyberpunk 2077, and The Last of Us Part 2 were considered costly, but they pale in comparison to the newly revealed Call of Duty figures.

Court filings from December 23rd, as reported by Game File, unveiled the development costs for Black Ops 3, Modern Warfare (2019), and Black Ops Cold War. Black Ops Cold War, exceeding $700 million, stands out as the most expensive video game ever produced, eclipsing even Star Citizen's substantial $644 million budget. This is particularly noteworthy considering Black Ops Cold War's funding came solely from Activision, unlike Star Citizen's eleven-year, crowd-funded development.

The sheer scale of these budgets begs the question: what will future installments cost? The trend of annually increasing budgets suggests that titles like Black Ops 6 will likely see even higher development costs. Comparing these figures to the $40 million budget of the groundbreaking Final Fantasy VII in 1997 underscores the dramatic shift in the financial landscape of the video game industry. Activision's revelations serve as a stark reminder of the ever-increasing costs associated with AAA game development.