Record-Breaking Call of Duty Budgets: A Look at the Rising Costs of AAA Game Development
Recent disclosures reveal that Activision's Call of Duty franchise has reached unprecedented heights in terms of development budgets, with some titles exceeding $700 million. This surpasses previous industry benchmarks, highlighting the escalating costs within the AAA video game sector.
Three Call of Duty games – Black Ops 3, Modern Warfare (2019), and Black Ops Cold War – saw budgets ranging from $450 million to a staggering $700 million. Black Ops Cold War, in particular, stands out, exceeding even Star Citizen's substantial $644 million development cost. This is remarkable considering Star Citizen's reliance on crowdfunding over 11 years, while Black Ops Cold War was solely financed by Activision.
The massive investment in these titles reflects the increasingly complex and lengthy development processes inherent in AAA game production. While indie games often thrive on smaller budgets, the scale of modern blockbuster titles necessitates substantial financial commitment. Games like Red Dead Redemption 2, Cyberpunk 2077, and The Last of Us Part 2 were previously considered exceptionally expensive, but even their budgets pale in comparison to the newly revealed Call of Duty figures. Black Ops Cold War, for instance, sold over 30 million copies after a multi-year development cycle. Modern Warfare (2019) further exemplifies this trend, with a budget exceeding $640 million and sales surpassing 41 million copies.
The sheer scale of these budgets underscores the dramatic increase in AAA game development costs over time. Comparing the $40 million budget of the groundbreaking 1997 release of Final Fantasy VII to today's figures illustrates the exponential growth. Activision's recent disclosures serve as a stark reminder of this escalating trend, prompting speculation about the potential budgets for future Call of Duty installments. The industry's rising costs are undeniable, and the Call of Duty franchise serves as a prominent example of this phenomenon.
