Video games are costly to make, but these budgets will make your jaw drop. Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're counting down our picks for the most expensive video games ever made.
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00:00Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're counting down our picks for the Top 30 Most Expensive
00:11Video Games Ever Made.
00:19Number 30.
00:20Battlefield 4
00:25Released during the Call of Duty franchise's heyday, this iteration of the Battlefield
00:29franchise was going to need a lot of money in order to compete.
00:32With a budget of around $100 million, the game was praised for its fantastic multiplayer
00:37mode.
00:38Sadly, its high budget wasn't enough to beat its long-time rival, with only 7 million copies
00:42sold compared to Call of Duty Ghost's absolutely insane 19 million.
00:53Number 29.
00:54Deadpool
01:02This $100 million beat-em-up featuring the Merc with a Mouth lacked the type of gameplay
01:06you might expect from such an expensive title.
01:09Wade Wilson's typically vulgar, fourth-wall-breaking humor was abundant, however, even poking fun
01:14at the developers and the shortcomings of the game.
01:16As much as Deadpool mocks gaming cliches, it doesn't hide the fact that many of those
01:21same tropes are present in almost every lifeless level.
01:24This all stemmed from a notably tumultuous existence.
01:27High Moon Studios' employees were fired during development, and the game was pulled
01:30from online services after release.
01:33Perhaps Deadpool really was in charge all along.
01:40Number 28.
01:42Disney Infinity
01:48Seeing the potential to cross over Disney, Marvel, and Star Wars properties, a $100 million
01:54investment in this toys-to-life title seemed like a venture destined to succeed.
01:58Early on, things were going swimmingly.
01:59Reviews were positive, $500 million in revenue had been made, and it was overwhelmingly outselling
02:05its main competitor, Skylanders.
02:07Two sequels later, the series was cancelled in a hot mess of corporate interference and
02:12gross overestimation of what they could sell.
02:14Astonishingly, it was still the top of its genre at the time of cancellation, leading
02:18many to theorize that the budget for the sequels must have been even more extortionate than
02:22the first game.
02:27Number 27.
02:28Tomb Raider
02:36Square Enix had an ambitious list of targets for their $100 million reboot of gaming's
02:41favorite British adventurer.
02:44in a month, be profitable in the same period, and achieve hugely positive critical reaction.
02:49No pressure for developers Crystal Dynamics, then.
02:51Praise was heaped upon its graphical detail and narrative depth from the outset, but it
02:55took a while before their own criteria were satisfied.
02:58Selling 3.4 million copies in a month was impressive, but it took eight months after
03:03release for them to finally reach profitability.
03:05Lara's new, untested look eventually led to sales of 11 million, the best ever for
03:10an IP that many thought was best left in the annals of gaming history.
03:22Number 26.
03:23Genshin Impact
03:31When this game was first revealed back in 2019, it suffered a lot of backlash due to
03:35its various similarities with Breath of the Wild, and with an incredibly high budget of
03:39$100 million, it was going to need to do something big to break out of that bad stigma.
03:44Luckily, for the developers at miHoYo, Genshin Impact has been an astronomical success, with
03:49its gacha system grossing over $1 billion by the end of March 2021.
03:54This has made it one of the highest-grossing mobile games of all time, and it has shown
03:58no signs of slowing down.
04:05Number 25.
04:06APB – All Points Bulletin
04:12Early trailers had this game from UK developers Realtime Worlds looking like a GTA-esque MMO.
04:17The end product, however, barely fulfilled 10% of that promise.
04:21Key shooting and driving mechanics were blatantly unfinished, leaving players bemused as to
04:26where the $105 million budget had gone.
04:28They got their answer when, with barely anyone playing their game, Realtime closed shop two
04:33months after APB's release, allowing unpaid ex-staff the freedom to reveal all.
04:38They say the enormous budget made key executives complacent, resulting in a lack of direction
04:42during a meandering five-year development cycle the fledgling company was ill-equipped
04:46to cope with.
04:51Number 24.
04:53Max Payne 3
05:00There was considerable pressure on Rockstar to deliver a game that would not only live
05:04up to Remedy's previous two third-person shooters, but also be a commercial success.
05:09By pumping $105 million into the project that was meant to be released way back in 2009,
05:14they ensured the series carried on its exceptionally dark tone, but left themselves needing to
05:19sell 4 million copies just to break even.
05:22While an aggressive marketing strategy eventually allowed them to hit the mark, Rockstar greatly
05:26overestimated the game's sales projections, resulting in a lot of unsold copies of the
05:30game ending up in bargain bins everywhere.
05:36Number 23.
05:37Shadow of the Tomb Raider
05:44For the final entry in Lara Croft's origin trilogy, Eidos Montreal and Square Enix needed
05:49to pull out all of the stops, resulting in an even greater budget than the first game.
05:54Estimated at around $110 to $135 million, the game initially suffered from much slower
05:58sales compared to its predecessors.
06:01Despite this, the game received positive reviews and would go on to ship a healthy 4 million
06:05copies worldwide.
06:11Number 22.
06:12Halo 2
06:20Bungie struck gold with the original Halo Combat Evolved, and with an estimated 5 million
06:24copies sold, Microsoft knew they had a hit on their hands.
06:28For the incredibly anticipated sequel, the game received a sizable $120 million budget,
06:33making it the most expensive video game ever at the time.
06:36Luckily, this gamble paid off, as not only is it considered one of the greatest video
06:40games of all time, but it sold at least 6.3 million copies, making it the best-selling
06:45game on the original Xbox console.
06:49Number 21.
06:50Dead Space 2
06:58Despite being critically acclaimed, the original Dead Space was a modest success, selling around
07:021 million copies worldwide.
07:04So it's incredibly surprising that its follow-up is one of the most expensive video games of
07:08all time, with a sizable $120 million budget.
07:12Dead Space 2 would ship around 2 million copies in its first week, and although it initially
07:16had strong sales, Electronic Arts would consider the game financially disappointing.
07:20Sadly, its developer Visceral Games would shut down in 2017, following even more poor
07:25sales for Dead Space 3.
07:32Number 20.
07:33Immortals of Avium
07:43Poor Immortals of Avium.
07:45The game simply wasn't given a fair chance to shine, as some players found the technical
07:49performance to be too unstable.
07:50An understandable complaint, and it begs to ask if enough money could have ironed out
07:54such a hiccup.
07:55Besides, EA spent a pretty penny on Immortals of Avium, as the game's budget was an estimated
08:00sum of $125 million.
08:04Considering layoffs occurred at developer Ascendant Studios less than a month after
08:07launch, it's safe to assume that Immortals of Avium probably didn't even make half
08:11of its budget back.
08:26Number 19.
08:29Destiny
08:33Being the creators of one of the most successful video game franchises on the planet, it's
08:37no surprise that Activision pumped as much money as possible into Bungie's first ever
08:41game since moving on from Halo.
08:43With an estimated total cost of around $140 million, Destiny desperately needed to be
08:48a success.
08:49Luckily for them, it sold over $325 million in its first five days, making it the most
08:54successful brand new franchise launch of all time.
08:57Not bad for a game that received polarizing reviews at launch.
09:04Number 18.
09:06Final Fantasy VII
09:13The legacy left by this legendary title is still felt by contemporary gamers, but it
09:18didn't come cheap.
09:19Around $45 million went on development, and $100 million was allocated for marketing an
09:23RPG that was one of the first to convincingly penetrate the North American market.
09:28Square's move to 3D and the elevation of production values was lapped up around the world as 2.3
09:34million copies were sold in just three days.
09:36Surprisingly, for a game often labeled as the best ever, the developers were forced
09:41to leave out several planned elements to meet a tight release date.
09:44Those exclusions apparently made no difference to fans, and it went on to sell 12.8 million
09:48units.
09:56Number 17.
09:57Starfield
10:03Starfield spent an incredibly long time in development, having started production sometime
10:07right before Fallout 4's launch in 2015.
10:10While it was finally released in 2023, it did manage to please some fans with its scope,
10:15environments, and RPG mechanics.
10:17Although, its Day 1 release on Xbox Game Pass has caused some to wonder if the game made
10:21any money.
10:23Just before the game launched, it was revealed that Starfield had a production budget of
10:26roughly $200 million, and the marketing budget tacked on another $200 million.
10:31It's hard to say if Xbox and Bethesda are expecting free updates to recoup costs, if
10:35there are even any left over.
10:37Neither company has talked about sales numbers at the time of this video.
10:43Number 16.
10:44The Callisto Protocol
10:50What was supposed to be the spiritual successor to Dead Space quickly became one last fart
10:54in the wind for 2022.
10:56The Callisto Protocol came and went with very little praise as most players couldn't get
11:00past the wonky controls and awful camera, both of which caused many, many cheap deaths.
11:05Given that this was a new game from the creator of Dead Space, publisher Krafton had given
11:09developers Striking Distance Studios a massive budget nearing $170 million.
11:14Unfortunately, Callisto Protocol did not meet sales expectations in Krafton's short time
11:19frame.
11:31Number 15.
11:32Marvel's Avengers
11:40Considering its movie counterparts are some of the highest-grossing films of all time,
11:43it's no surprise to anyone that this video game adaptation of Marvel Comics' premiere
11:47team came with a hefty budget.
11:49With a price tag of $170 million and counting, Square Enix fully intends to keep adding more
11:55and more money to this live-service game.
11:57Even with all this money being pumped into it, the game has still yet to turn in a profit
12:01and coupled with a less-than-stellar reception, things are looking pretty bleak for Earth's
12:06mightiest heroes.
12:16Number 14.
12:17Hyenas
12:23The reason Hyenas is so low on this list is for the simple fact that the game was never
12:27released.
12:28While Shenmue was one of Sega's most expensive projects ever once upon a time, whatever inflated
12:32budgets came after that were completely trumped by Hyenas.
12:36With Creative Assembly beginning development in 2017, Hyenas was planned to be Sega's big
12:40live-service shooter, with the publisher going so far as to call it their super game.
12:45How much Sega spent is anyone's guess, but after the game was canned, former staff revealed
12:49that Sega planned to spend nearly $900 million on Hyenas.
12:53As soon as the playtests and alphas closed with negative reception to the game, Sega
12:57pulled the plug before things got even more costly.
13:07Number 13.
13:08Suicide Squad – Kill the Justice League
13:17Whereas Sega quit on whatever Hyenas was supposed to be, Warner Bros. figured their single-player
13:21studio in Rocksteady should really develop an online multiplayer live-service title.
13:26What came out was Suicide Squad – Kill the Justice League, a game that nobody wanted.
13:31Players hated the generic look and feel of the game, and even Rocksteady staff members
13:34began a gradual exodus as development had progressed.
13:38Roughly a month after launch, Warner Bros. reported their financials and stated that
13:41Suicide Squad was the main reason why the company lost $200 million.
13:46At the time of this video, a skeleton crew of a dozen or so people now work at Rocksteady
13:50to wrap up Suicide Squad's post-launch support and to work on a port of Hogwarts Legacy.
14:00Number 12.
14:01Star Wars – The Old Republic
14:08BioWare had already proved that they could handle one of the greatest media properties
14:12ever when they released Knights of the Old Republic in 2003, and so were trusted with
14:17$200 million of EA investments for this subscription-based MMORPG.
14:21They created a game of immense scale and depth.
14:24It contained 1,600 hours of story content, yet still faced some criticism for getting
14:29muddled between an MMORPG and a Mass Effect-style experience.
14:33Although it required the move to a free-to-play model to reinvigorate interest in the game,
14:37it has been regularly expanded and in 2014 was still earning $165 million a year.
14:51Number 11.
14:52Horizon Forbidden West
15:00After departing from Sony in 2019, former PlayStation Studio CEO Shawn Layden began
15:03talking about the AAA gaming industry facing unsustainable budgets ranging into hundreds
15:08of millions of dollars.
15:09The public did not get a look at what Layden was talking about until June 2023.
15:14In the FTC's trial against Microsoft during the conglomerate's attempt to acquire Activision
15:17Blizzard King, Sony had submitted a rather awfully redacted document which revealed the
15:22budgets of two major games.
15:24Horizon Forbidden West was one of them and it had cost Sony a pretty penny of $221 million.
15:30And what about the other game?
15:38Number 10.
15:39The Last of Us Part II
15:44Yes, this was the other game Sony had accidentally spilled the beans on.
15:51It's no surprise that a project like The Last of Us Part II would get a slightly higher
15:54budget than Horizon.
15:56It is arguably PlayStation's biggest IP alongside God of War, which would be enough reason to
16:00give Naughty Dog a whopping $250 million.
16:04And since the game became the fastest-selling PS4 game in the platform's history, it's
16:09safe to assume that The Last of Us Part II enjoyed a healthy, wealthy amount of revenue,
16:13which is not something that every PlayStation game can say.
16:23Number 9.
16:24Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2
16:32Following the first Modern Warfare title selling 17 million copies, Activision could happily
16:36throw money at the sequel without worry of it ever being a failure.
16:40The development costs were relatively modest at just $40 to $50 million, but they put a
16:44staggering $200 million into marketing this FPS titan around the world.
16:48Featuring a refined, almost flawless online multiplayer and a new Spec Ops mode, 5 million
16:54copies were sold in a day and it went to pass $1 billion in sales in just a few months.
16:59The series has grown tired since the juggernaut's success, but where can it really go when near-perfection
17:04has already been achieved?
17:09Number 8.
17:10Grand Theft Auto V
17:17This open-world title offers limitless possibilities, especially if you're running a mod or two,
17:22and so was inevitably going to leave a sizable hole in Rockstar's pockets.
17:26With a reported cost of $265 million, it dwarfed the $100 million budget of its older sibling
17:32and similarly obliterated it in pretty much every statistic you can think of.
17:37Dissipating from a lease over two generations of consoles, 145 million copies have been
17:41shipped and although the free DLC likely eats into their $2 billion revenue, the online
17:46mode is a constant money-making machine.
17:49Its numbers are often compared to that of Hollywood's biggest projects and rightly
17:52so, its carnage frequently outdoes a blockbuster hit.
18:08Number 7.
18:10Marvel's Spider-Man 2
18:14Yeah, 2023 was a bit of a messy year for Sony as the leaks kept pouring out even after Microsoft
18:21acquired Activision Blizzard King.
18:24Shortly after the successful launch of Spider-Man 2, Insomniac Games suffered a major leak that
18:28revealed a buffet of details about the developers' games, future projects, internal data across
18:33PlayStation as a whole, and, of course, budgets.
18:36Aside from unannounced games, the budget of Spider-Man 2 was perhaps the biggest eyebrow
18:41raiser of all.
18:42According to the leaked data, Marvel's Spider-Man 2 had cost Sony $350 million to develop.
18:48Considering this sequel reuses a lot of assets from its 2018 predecessor, we have to wonder
18:52how much of that money was Disney charging for the license and how much of it was in
18:56making new stuff for the game.
18:58Number 6.
19:05Cyberpunk 2077
19:13The hype was immense for this hotly anticipated CD Projekt Red title and equally so was its
19:18budget.
19:19With a cost of $316 million and a lengthy development time, many were expecting perfection.
19:24When it came to release, despite having a good reception, the game was absolutely riddled
19:28with game-breaking bugs and glitches.
19:31None of this would matter, though, as the game would go on to sell over 13 million copies
19:34worldwide by the end of the year.
19:42Number 5.
19:43Red Dead Redemption 2
19:51Rockstar needed to go all out in order to not only top the original Red Dead Redemption,
19:56but also follow up from their most successful game of all time, Grand Theft Auto V.
20:00This resulted in Red Dead Redemption 2 getting the highest budget a game has ever received,
20:05with an estimated cost being around $370 to $540 million.
20:10This all paid off greatly for the developer as not only did the title receive multiple
20:14Game of the Year awards, but it shipped an estimated 37 million copies.
20:19One can only imagine how much a potential Grand Theft Auto 6 will cost.
20:27Number 4.
20:28Concord
20:33After seven long years in development, Sony came in to see what developer Firewalk Studios
20:37was cooking and somehow thought they needed to fund this project and acquire the studio.
20:42Well, after Concord bombed, everyone wanted answers for Sony's screw-up.
20:46According to Last Stand Media founder Colin Moriarty, who spoke to a former Firewalk Studios
20:50staff member, Concord cost $200 million to develop.
20:54It was later revealed that Sony had spent the same amount to acquire Firewalk, meaning
20:57Concord had cost Sony $400 million and it was all lost in a flash, never to be seen
21:04again since the game was delisted less than two weeks after launch.
21:11Number 3.
21:12Monopoly Go
21:13Didn't expect to see a mobile game on this list, did you?
21:20Well, neither did we until we were throwing this list together.
21:23The weird thing about Monopoly Go is that it's a mobile game based on a board game.
21:27Mobile games in general are not super expensive to develop, that's why so many developers
21:31choose to chase that market.
21:33Low cost, high income.
21:35But for some reason, Scopely felt that its new Monopoly game needed to be in front of
21:39every face possible.
21:41Now, the development costs are unknown, but again, probably small.
21:45Care to guess how much it spent on just marketing?
21:47Would you believe Scopely burned through half a billion dollars?
21:58Number 2.
21:59Skull & Bones
22:04Even now, it's still hard to believe that Skull & Bones got so much money injected into
22:08it as it did.
22:09Although no soft numbers have come out regarding Skull & Bones' budget, we can do some rough
22:13napkin math to estimate it.
22:15See, Skull & Bones began development in 2013, saw several delays after its reveal in 2017,
22:20went through a whole project restart circa 2020, and was developed by a team of nearly
22:256,000 staff members from not just Ubisoft Singapore, but Ubisoft Berlin, Belgrade, Chengdu,
22:30Kyiv, Montreal, Mumbai, Paris, Philippines, Pune, India, and Shanghai.
22:37On top of that, Ubisoft received funding from the Singapore government.
22:40So, between Ubisoft's pockets and Singapore's own, we wouldn't be surprised if Skull & Bones
22:45cost more than half a billion dollars, or maybe close to a billion dollars.
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23:11Number 1 – Star Citizen
23:21Star Citizen was announced in 2012, and it still isn't even out.
23:24Sure, you can try to get in as an early playtester and offer feedback, but that's only asking
23:29you to spend more money, as Star Citizen is riddled with microtransactions.
23:33After all this time, is there a release date in sight yet?
23:36Nope, and the budget has only gotten bigger.
23:39As of November 2024, Star Citizen has managed to raise less than a quarter of a billion
23:43dollars from its Kickstarter campaign.
23:45The game has even received private funding from other tech industry billionaires.
23:48Honestly, we wouldn't be surprised if the game manages to tack on a few extra zeros
23:52before developer Cloud Imperium finally decides to launch the damn thing.
24:07Have you played any of these for yourself?
24:09Which game's budget surprised you the most?
24:11Let us know down in the comments.