The most expensive games of all time, adjusted for inflation
AAA game budgets have long been measured in the tens of millions of dollars, and that's just for development. Add in marketing and post-release support, and you've got astronomical sums. However, even among such an expensive business, there are games that stand out with truly insane budgets.
It is about such games that we will talk about in this text. The budgets are given in two versions: the first number is the budget taking into account US dollar inflation as of December 2024; the second number is the approximate development budget at the time of the game's release, with some exceptions, where the support budget is also taken into account. Some games do not have official data on the money spent on development, so they indicate the amounts calculated by various analysts and specialized firms. We assure you that some of the games on the list will surprise you.
1. Genshin Impact
Budget $966 million ($100 million first year, $ 200 million each subsequent year)
Android, iOS, PlayStation 4/5, Windows, Xbox Series X/S platforms
Genre: Action/RPG
Year 2020
In 2020, Genshin Impact became a kind of harbinger of the expansion of Asian game studios to the Western audience. This is no longer a simple Free -to -Play game, it was even compared at the beginning with The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild - frankly, in vain, but the advertising element worked. Genshin Impact feels great even today, receiving constant updates, and its trailers can be seen at all major gaming events of the level of The Game Awards.
Of course, all this is not cheap, but miHoYo does not trade for trifles. The cost of developing Genshin Impact, its support, attracting players and releasing updates was just a little short of $1 billion. A staggering amount! At the same time, the first version of the game cost a relatively adequate $ 100 million. It was only later, when the game found an audience of millions of players, that the developers began to invest $ 200 million in it annually. Taking into account inflation, it turned out $966 million, and this figure is growing literally every day.
2. Star Citizen
Budget $894 million ($788 million)
Windows platforms
Genre simulator, shooter
Year 2017
The only game on the list that hasn't even reached release and is still in testing. Star Citizen is even called a scam project, because it was announced back in 2012, testing began in 2017, and there is still no release date for the game. However, most likely, the situation is a little different: Star Citizen has become a victim of the developers' own ambitions, who still want to create the perfect space simulator.
Chris Roberts, who leads the development of Star Citizen, has dreamed of the game almost since the beginning of his career, that is, since the 1980s. Roberts is known for the Wing Commander and Freelancer series, and Star Citizen is supposed to be his Magnum Opus - the perfect adventure in space. The idea was so popular with players that they are still sponsoring the development of the game. Star Citizen's budget is almost entirely crowdfunding, and the game store offers to buy virtual spaceships for quite real hundreds of dollars. And people still believe in the game, which is why the total collection exceeded $ 788 million, with the largest revenues falling in recent years: 2022 - $ 11 3 million, 2023 - $ 117 million, 2024 - $ 116 million, the first month and a half of 2025 - $ 14 million.
Star Citizen hasn't been released yet, but it has spawned a spinoff called Squadron 42. It's a story-driven shooter that's scheduled to be released in 2026. Whether you believe it or not is an almost religious question.
3. Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War
Budget $848 million ($700 million)
Platforms PlayStation 4/5, Windows, Xbox One/Series X|S
Shooter genre
Year 2020
It's no surprise that Call of Duty makes this list. But chances are you don't even realize how much money Activision is pouring into its flagship franchise. It could have remained a secret, but the courts have intervened. The reason is tragic - they are related to the 2022 Texas school shooting, which was partly blamed on video games, because the killer really liked playing Call of Duty.
Call of Duty creative director Patrick Kelly was forced to reveal the cost of developing some parts of the series at the request of the judges. Then it turned out that Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War cost Activision and Treyarch with Raven Software $ 700 million. And this makes it the second most expensive game in the world (recall, Star Citizen has not yet been formally released). It is important to note that this is not only about the direct development, but also about supporting the game after its release. By the way, sales of this part amounted to 30 million copies.
Critics have warmly received Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War, praising almost every aspect of the game. In particular, everyone liked the story campaign, which constantly offers new situations and mechanics.
4 . Call of Duty: Modern Warfare
Budget $787 million ($640 million)
Platforms PlayStation 4/5, Windows, Xbox One/Series X | S
Shooter genre
Year 2019
The fourth place also goes to the Call of Duty series, moreover, the release of which was released exactly a year before Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War. That is, for two years in a row, Activision invested hundreds of millions of dollars in games, which as a result became some of the most expensive to produce in the entire history of video games. Such ambitions can be understood, because 2019's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare became a kind of "soft reboot" of the most important part of Call of Duty - Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare from 2007. All questions about the confusion in the names - to Activision.
The cost of developing Call of Duty: Modern Warfare also became known through the school shooting lawsuits mentioned above. Activision spent a total of $640 million on the development and support of the game, and it sold 41 million copies.
Modern Warfare 2019 was remembered for a scandal in Russia, where it was accused of depicting Russian soldiers as "absolute evil" who kill civilians without any remorse. As we can see, the game is one hundred percent truthful.
5. Call of Duty: Black Ops III
Budget $600 ($450 million)
Platforms PlayStation 3/4/5, Windows, Xbox 360/One/Series X|S , macOS
Shooter genre
Year 2015
Another Call of Duty on the list, the reasons for its budget disclosure are the same as the other two. It sold the best of the three, 43 million copies – that’s no joke.
It is worth considering that since it is the oldest game among the three, players had more time to buy it. In addition, it was once given away for free to PS Plus subscribers, which also has a strong impact on the figures. PlayStation generally continues to be the main platform by revenue for Activision in the context of Call of Duty.
Call of Duty: Black Ops III itself can please with an interesting plot, in which political intrigue is combined with science fiction and almost a psychological thriller. This is not often talked about, but the plots of Call of Duty are very often extremely elaborate. So it is not exactly a bright attraction, the games have enough interesting thoughts and ideas.
6. Monopoly Go!
Budget $514+ million ($500+ million)
Android, iOS platforms
Genre mobile game
Year 20 23
This position will definitely surprise you, as BuzzFeed and other similar media outlets used to write. I admit, it sincerely surprised even me. After all, the mobile "Monopoly" turned out to be more expensive than The Last of Us Part II and Marvel's Spider-Man 2. The modern realities of the video game market can surprise everyone.
However, if you carefully consider the development process, the situation becomes a little clearer. It took seven years to create Monopoly Go!, and about $ 500 million was spent on marketing alone . That is, the figure above is not about development, but only about promotion, the development budget is still unknown. Perhaps Monopoly Go! is ahead of even Genshin Impact in terms of costs, seven years to support the development team is definitely not cheap.
However, the invested resources were justified. As of March 2024, the game had been downloaded about 100 million times, and it had also generated $ 2 billion in revenue. It is a redundant reminder that making mobile games is not an easy task. However, they are still capable of bringing in hundreds of millions, this is no myth among hypercasual developers.
And the game's developers themselves, the American studio Scopely, were acquired in 2023 for an impressive $4.9 billion by Savvy Games Group, a Saudi state-owned company created with money from the Sovereign Fund of Saudi Arabia.
7. Cyberpunk 2077
Budget $ 514 million ($4 42 million)
Platforms Windows, PlayStation 4/5, Xbox One/Series X|S , macOS
Genre: Action/RPG
Year 2020
Cyberpunk 2077 would have made this list anyway. It's a hugely ambitious game from CD Projekt RED, with which the studio wanted to reach new heights and launch an additional core franchise in addition to The Witcher. However, the extremely mixed and problematic release created additional hassles for the developers - of course, it didn't come without financial costs.
The development of the basic version of Cyberpunk 2077 cost CD Projekt RED $ 3.16 million. And bringing the game to an adequate state and the Phantom Liberty DLC cost another $12.5 million . Moreover, if in the first case the money between development and marketing was divided approximately equally – $174 million versus $142 million, then in the second almost everything went to development – $103.6 million versus $21.6 million. All this without taking into account inflation.
The release of Cyberpunk 2077 significantly damaged the reputation of CD Projekt RED, but the company, thanks to almost titanic efforts, managed to regain the sympathy of players, critics and, most importantly for the business, investors. In addition, the studio revised its own approaches to development and now plans to release more diverse games more often. It is also interesting that the reputation of Cyberpunk 2077 was greatly helped by the release of the anime Cyberpunk: Edgerunners.
8. Marvel's Spider-Man 2
Budget $324 million ($315 million)
Platforms PlayStation 5, Windows
Genre action
Year 2023
Insomniac Games had long maintained its independence, while working closely with Sony. Everything changed with the release of Marvel's Spider-Man, which pleased PlayStation management so much that it decided to make Insomniac Games its own in-house studio. The team gained access to large resources and relative stability. And Marvel's Spider-Man 2, after Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart, became a demonstration of the developers' efforts.
$315 million budget is a significant amount. At the same time, Marvel's Spider-Man 2 received almost no critical acclaim, and gamers rarely discuss it. This is despite good press reviews and sales. It seems that the developers failed to create enough "tail" for the game to remain relevant. Additionally, there were rumors that a potential DLC trilogy was also canceled.
Insomniac Games also made headlines for its leaked financial presentation. It said that $300 million is a fairly standard amount. And the future of the gaming industry may lie in the release of independent branches and spinoffs like Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales, which still require budgets of about $100-150 million. According to the same leak, the next Marvel's Spider-Man 3, which is due to be released in 2028 and most likely on next-generation consoles, may cost close to $400 million to develop.
9. Grand Theft Auto V
Budget $2 80-3 34 million ( $ 206.5-246.8 million)
Platforms PlayS tation 3 / 4/5, Xbox 360/ One / Series X | S, Windows
Genre action/adventure
Year 20 13
Another game that is quite logical to see in the text about the most expensive video games of all time. Grand Theft Auto V, which is already 12 years old, still feels great. Its plot is interesting to return to, online gives almost endless space for entertainment, and built-in editors stimulate creativity. In Grand Theft Auto V, they even shoot entire films of the level of Grand Theft Hamlet.
Rockstar Games is a very private and non-public company. It can afford to be here. Therefore, the data on the budget of Grand Theft Auto V comes from the analytical firm Sterne Agee, which claims that the development and marketing of the game cost Rockstar $206.5–246.8 million, not taking into account inflation. Today, such numbers are not so shocking, but for 2013 it was one of the records.
It is also not known how much Rockstar is spending on updating the online component of the game. However, we do know that several story DLCs were planned for the game, which were canceled in favor of online. The incredible success of Grand Theft Online played a cruel joke with players and even with developers. And now everyone expects Grand Theft Auto VI to almost reboot the entire gaming industry. On the other hand, video games with a price tag of $ 100 may also become the norm after the release of GTA VI.
10. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
Budget $278-306 million ($190-210 million)
Platforms PlayStation 3/4/5, Windows, Xbox 360/One/Series X|S, OS X
Shooter genre
Year 2009
I swear, this is the last Call of Duty game on the list. It also differs greatly from the others in terms of time frame, because we are not talking about the new Modern Warfare 2, but about the classic part that came out in 2009. This game is still loved.
Interestingly, Activision spent significantly more on marketing than on development: $40–50 million versus $150–160 million. For 2009, such amounts were still something of a swindle, and taking into account inflation, they are impressive even today.
However, Activision's motivation is understandable. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare became a new word in the shooter genre, but at the same time it was a breakthrough. If the experiment had failed, a whole large genre would have gone in a different direction. However, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare was liked by everyone, so the developers only had to improve and diversify its elements. More locations, weapons, customization. Everything worked - so now we live in a world dominated by Call of Duty, for better or for worse.
11. The Last of Us Part II
Budget $266 million ($220 million)
Platforms Windows, PlayStation 4/5
Genre action/adventure
Year 2020
Naughty Dog is almost the key PlayStation studio, setting the trend for cinematic games with an emphasis on stories, which nevertheless remain primarily video games, rather than interactive films or TV series. The Last of Us was the culmination of this approach of the studio. It turned out quite ironic: the developers lured them with the relatively light and cheerful blockbuster Uncharted, only to release the gloomy and depressing The Last of Us. However, almost everyone liked it.
It is not surprising that Naughty Dog and Sony spared no resources on The Last of Us Part II. More than 2,000 people from 14 studios worked on the game. And this is not to mention the special technologies and individual licenses that also required interaction with various companies. The Last of Us Part II is still loved to be discussed, it is so provocative, but other developers are separately interested in the budget issue.
Some in the gaming industry believe that it is impossible to maintain a large development team with hundreds of millions of dollars in story-driven games in today's world. This is despite the fact that The Last of Us Part II's online mode was canceled in favor of Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet. In other words, Naughty Dog is an exceptional studio even by industry standards.
12. Horizon Forbidden West
Budget $225 million ($212 million)
Platforms Windows, PlayStation 4/5
Genre action/adventure
Year 2022
Guerrilla Games was once known for its Killzone series of shooters, but these days they are almost forgotten. The studio is now primarily associated with the Horizon series. Its originality and creative achievements are also debated, but sales figures and good reviews have allowed the series to become one of the key ones for PlayStation.
The developers didn't just create a new franchise, but an advanced technology for creating open-world video games. Guerrilla Games' Decima engine is considered by many players to be the most beautiful of all, and was even borrowed by Hideo Kojima for Death Stranding 1/2. The success of Horizon Zero Dawn allowed Herman Hulst to take the position of head of PlayStation Studios. We think that's why the Horizon franchise is developing so actively.
Horizon Forbidden West is a huge game with almost photorealistic graphics, so its large budget shouldn't come as a surprise.
13. Red Dead Redemption 2
Budget $2 13 million ($170 million)
Platforms PlayStation 4/5, Windows, Xbox One/Series X | S
Genre: Action/Adventure
Year 2018
Red Dead Redemption 2 is one of the most unique video games of our time, created by Rockstar Games. The game is known for its open world, deep plot and details that allow you to fully immerse yourself in the atmosphere of the Wild West. Players will take on the role of Arthur Morgan, a member of the gang, trying to survive in a world that is rapidly changing due to the development of civilization. A distinctive feature of the game is its scale and the ability to influence events in the world.
The budget of Red Dead Redemption 2 is unknown, we only have the assumptions of analysts. $170 million in 2018 money, but this is supposedly only the development costs. Media representatives believe that another $200-300 million was spent on marketing. If these numbers are added up and inflation is taken into account, then Red Dead Redemption 2 should jump to 6th place on this list. But let's focus on one thing, the development budget according to the assumptions of game analysts.
Red Dead Redemption 2 looks stunning even today. The developers spent a huge amount of time detailing every element of the game: from the textures of nature to the behavior of animals, which helped create a realistic and dynamic world.
The costs of creating Red Dead Redemption 2 were justified not only by good sales - 67 million copies as of November 2024, but also by the numerous awards the game received for the best story, graphics, and innovation.
14. Halo 5: Guardians
Budget $213 million ($160 million)
Platforms Xbox One/Series X | S
Shooter genre
Year 2015
Halo 5: Guardians is a first-person shooter video game developed by 343 Industries and published by Microsoft for the Xbox One console. The game is the fifth installment in the core Halo series, which has always been critically important to Xbox and Microsoft. That's why Halo 5: Guardians received such a large budget.
However, players and critics still didn't like the story campaign and the overall development of the Halo universe in this part. On the contrary, the multiplayer was praised for its innovation and fun atmosphere. However, it is probably the innovation that confused some players.
15. Final Fantasy VII
Budget $156–284 million ($80–145 million)
Platforms PlayStation 1/4/5, Windows, iOS, Android, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One/Series X | S
Genre role-playing game
Year 1997
Final Fantasy VII is a cult game, the echoes of which we hear even today. And we are not even talking about the trilogy of remakes. The aesthetics, the approach to the story and gameplay, the combination of different elements still inspire developers and simply artists around the world. SquareSoft also understood the importance of the game even before its release, so they invested in it as responsibly as possible.
Final Fantasy VII marked the transition to the 3D era, for which SquareSoft traded Nintendo for Sony. The latter has an interesting story, because at one time Sony management threw entire parties to get Final Fantasy on their own consoles. At least, that's the story told by Shuhei Yoshida.
The game was technologically outstanding for its time in every way, even if it looks poor and even comical today. The $156–284 million budget, adjusted for inflation, was a big risk, but it paid off: Final Fantasy VII is still the most successful Final Fantasy game in terms of sales. And Cloud's story still lives brightly in the hearts of millions thanks to remakes.
But one should not assume that all modern AAA games have to cost hundreds of millions to attract the attention of players. For example, the budget of last year's Black Myth: Wukong, which caused a stir, was "only" $70 million, the development of Alan Wake 2 cost $75 million. But the budget of "STALKER 2: Heart of Chornobyl", according to the editorial staff of "Mezh", still exceeds the figure of $100 million.