How Much Money Did Red Dead Redemption 2 Cost To Make

Yous only accept to look at how video games have evolved over the decades to know that they are condign more and more expensive to make. Unless we're talking almost indie games, we're long by the days of simple pixel art characters running through a handful of stages with repeating patterns, a limited color palette, and curt, looping music. Games have ballooned into massive worlds where each strand of a character's hair is detailed, dynamic lighting fills the mural, and everything is backed by professional voice actors and orchestral arrangements.

Aside from the few indie developers who manage to striking it big on just a shoestring budget, most big games cost hundreds of millions of dollars to create. The more ambitious a game is, and the more staff required to brand it, the higher the cost becomes. If yous've never considered how expensive games are to make, some of these numbers will undoubtedly be a shock, and yet that's the price of creating and marketing a mod game. Before complaining almost a modest crash-land in game prices, run into but how much coin is sunk into the nigh expensive games ever developed.

Further Reading

• • The most famous canceled video games
  • The bestselling games of 2020
  • The rarest video games of all time

How price is estimated

Earlier diving right into the list, nosotros demand to be clear on what exactly is included in a game's total cost. For most games, we usually don't get a solid dollar corporeality for evolution, if we get a number at all. Well-nigh of the fourth dimension it is given in a range, which we volition break down on a case-by-case basis. We're also including the marketing costs associated with each game. Marketing a game can be, and frequently is, more than costly than the game itself. Finally, we have adjusted all the dollar amounts to the same inflation rate for consistency. A dollar ten years ago isn't worth the same every bit a dollar today, after all. All that out of the way, permit's get started.

Red Dead Redemption two — $379 million to $550 million

Just accept one look at this game and try and deny that information technology isn't the most expensive game ever made. No, it isn't Rockstar's almost successful game, and it hasn't had the legs of its flagship serial Grand Theft Auto, just Red Dead Redemption 2 is almost unbelievable to see in motion. The characters are immaculately detailed, performances and animations are every bit lifelike and fluid as the all-time films are, the story is lengthy and engrossing, and the world is one of the biggest there is. No corners were cut with this game, from footprints showing upwardly in the mud to the infamous feature of equus caballus testicles reacting to the conditions. Oh, and then there's the entire ongoing online portion of the game too.

The development toll lone ranged from $170 million to $240 1000000. Part of that massive number is no doubt due to the game getting multiple delays, which naturally added more cost to the project. What is truly phenomenal is how much marketing upkeep was given to the game. Possibly eclipsing the development upkeep, an estimated $200 million to $300 1000000 was spent marketing this love letter to the Western genre, giving us the final cost above once adjustments were fabricated.

Read our full Red Dead Redemption 2review

Star Citizen — $320 one thousand thousand-plus

Okay, so technicallyStar Denizenisn't a released game quite yet, but some parts are playable, and the amount of coin behind this crowdfunded title is but as well big to ignore. Pitched as a successor to the cult classic Freelancer, this space exploration, trading, and combat simulation game has made some big promises to live up to. Combining gameplay from FPS titles, MMOs, flight sims, and more, all set in a persistent universe of untold scale and at a level of particular no other space sim has attempted, information technology's hard to imagine a scenario where this game wouldn'ttoll hundreds of millions of dollars.

Star Citizenbegan production over a decade ago, in 2010, and after launched a very successful Kickstarter in 2012 where the team raised more than than $ii million. Originally, the game was promised to launch in 2014, but that date obviously came and went, and nosotros still take no idea when to await the finished product. Even after the initial crowdfunding ended, though, developers Deject Imperium Games notwithstanding accepted donations, as well as sold content in the game itself, to go along raising money. The community has, at least every bit of June 2020, contributed over $300 one thousand thousand to the project, plus more invested from other sources. That leaves the development cost, assuming they employ all that budget to make the game, at around $320 meg, with only a few one thousand thousand more estimated for marketing.

Cyberpunk 2077 — $316 million

Oh male child, here's a hot ane. The most contempo game on this list,Cyberpunk 2077has been talked to death since its disastrous launch, and for skilful reason. The game was buggy, glitchy, and had primal flaws with things similar A.I. to bargain with, and that'south bold yous're playing on a powerful PC. The console launch was so bad that Sony pulled it from its digital stores, and it has yet to come up dorsum despite the developers attempting to patch information technology. Fifty-fifty after multiple delays, most gamers agree that it should've just taken some other few months, or perhaps a twelvemonth, to actually deliver the experience promised, and nevertheless a staggering corporeality of money was spent giving us the version we ended upwardly with.

Despite what some people think,Cyberpunk 2077didn't actually begin development when information technology was outset announced in 2012, simply rather started preproduction in 2016. From there, things ramped up, only as we all now know, development was far from smooth. There are tons of stories and manufactures out in that location detailing the tortured development, management, and overall handling of this game, merely in the terminate, the game launched with the final development budget of $174 million. The marketing budget near matched that at $142 million, which makes sense since it was hard not to be aware of this game prior to release. Despite that high cost and seemingly bad reception, Cyberpunk 2077still managed to be one of the bestselling games of 2020.

Phone call of Duty: Modern Warfare ii — $298 million

Jumping back to the 360 and PS3 generation, we come to what remains as the most expensive game in the long-running Call of Duty series, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. After the massive striking that wasModern Warfare, Activision spared no expense in pumping the sequel total of cash to capitalize on the previous game'due south success. It already had World at War coming the following year but used that time to craft a perfect follow-up to what people loved about the first Modern Warfare, only cranked up to the maximum. The campaign was more than bombastic, the multiplayer deeper and with more hooks to keep y'all addicted, and, of course, the obligatory "controversial" scene was truly contentious.

That scene, actualization as the Shock and Awe mission in the commencement game and as No Russian in the sequel, ended up condign a pivotal point in the game's marketing. Now, the games actual development cost was $50 1000000, which may wait pocket-sized in comparison to the numbers we've seen so far but is all the same quite high, especially for 2009. What gets Modern Warfare 2on the list is the $200 meg spent marketing the game. That's enough money to make the game four times over. Trailers were given slots on prime time television events, actors were hired to apparel every bit soldiers for the massive midnight launch events around the world, and commercials and posters were only about everywhere you looked. The No Russian level put things over the top with all the press coverage it attracted both inside and outside of traditional games media.

Grand Theft Auto five — $291 million

Rockstar is back again with the king of persistent open up world games, Grand Theft Automobile v. Information technology clocks in somewhat low on this list and still is one of the highest-grossing amusement products — and that doesn't just include games — ever made. And information technology is stillmaking the bestsellers list almost 10 years after release. Just like with Red Dead Redemption ii, Rockstar was in no rush to get this title out the door and didn't even care that information technology came out at the very end of the console generation. In fact, being able to update and sell the game again for the PS4 and Xbox 1 may have ended upwards boosting what were already record-breaking sales. Now running on the PS5 and Xbox Series 10/S, this game was plain well worth the loftier investment.

In terms of evolution, GTA fivedidn't toll as well much less thanRDR2at $137 one thousand thousand. The staff working on this game reached over ane,000 team members betwixt 2 Rockstar studios and took virtually four one/2 years of development fourth dimension. The story was expansive; well written, directed, and acted; and gave players just nearly everything they wanted from a GTA title. Rockstar probably could've completely ignored marketing the game across announcing a date and still sold millions, but $128 1000000 was spent making sure everyoneknew this game was coming.

Read our full G Theft Automobile 5review

Star Wars: The Old Republic — $227 1000000-plus

MMOs are notoriously expensive. An MMO based on Star Wars not only has to live upwards to the legacy the films have, just equally a sequel to what are considered 2 of the best Star Wars RPGs ever fabricated — Knights of the Old Republicand its sequel —  it is almost destined to fall short. Regardless, EA went ahead and entered the risky MMO genre in an endeavor to capitalize on the IPs success. The outcome was a game that took a long fourth dimension to develop, being the first MMO BioWare ever attempted, only looked like a success at launch. The game got over a million players in just three days despite information technology beingness a subscription-based game.

The game did bleed players rather chop-chop, even with efforts to keep them engaged via expansion packs, until EA introduced a gratis-to-play option in 2012. That helped stabilize the actor count, and the game continues to be popular to this mean solar day. That initial launch ate upward a massive $200 million, which lonely nets out to the effigy in a higher place after adjusting for inflation. Obviously, this game didaccept a marketing push behind information technology, simply nosotros don't have any idea of just how much was spent on that. Even bold it was zero, that still puts this game in the top list of near expensive games on development price lone.

Halo two — $217 meg

Ane of the nearly important sequels of all time,Halo 2had a lot riding on its success.Halohad put Microsoft's Xbox on the map at launch, so much and then that Microsoft acquired developer Bungie and prepare it to work on an even more ambitious and expensive sequel. The game would exist bigger in every way, with new and expanded mechanics, story, weapons, vehicles, and playable elites, and the biggest draw being online play via Xbox Alive. Bungie showtime ready the standard for how an FPS should feel on console with Halo,and withHalo two, it set the standard for how competitive online games in general should function. From foyer systems, friends lists, and even new maps as DLC,Halo 2set the bar that just about every future game with online play needed to meet.

All those new features and ideas weren't cheap, and fifty-fifty with Microsoft's backing, Bungie still wasn't able to cram everything into Halo 2that it wanted to. That pb to the infamous cliffhanger of an ending, but the high cost all the same paid off. Just nether Modern Warfare 2'south budget, just in 2004 money instead of 2009,Halo twocost $40 meg to create. Second probably simply toHalo 3, the marketing push and launch for this game was the biggest event of the year for gamers all over the world. Doubling the evolution upkeep, $80 million was spent promoting the return of the Chief Primary, which translates to well-nigh $217 million adjusted for modern times.

Marvel'southward Avengers — $170 million-plus

While not well-nigh as bad asCyberpunk 2077's launch, Marvel'due south Avengerswas no doubtfulness the runner-up in terms of big-budget disappointments in 2020. Much like Star Wars, this is another massive IP that publisher Square Enix wanted to pair with the hot new gaming tendency of live services made popular past the likes of Destiny. Still, the end issue fell somewhere between that goal and a more traditional single-histrion experience, which is what developer Crystal Dynamics was more experienced with creating. The story mode, including a roster of heroes that all played differently and had unique skills and abilities to earn, was generally well received. Information technology was everything else the game tried to exist that savage flat.

Now, where things get murky when talking aboutMarvel's Avengers,specifically related to the cost, is that Foursquare Enix hasn't released whatever information likewise the fact that the game lost the visitor $48 million. From that, and that the game simply sold about 60% of what the developers hoped, analysts were able to judge the upkeep to be somewhere in a higher place $170 million. Whether that is just the development price or includes the marketing budget is unknown, but in either instance, it is enough to earn it a spot on this listing.

Destiny — $151 1000000

Speaking ofDestiny — and with Bungie in one case over again making an appearance on this list — nosotros have the showtime attempt at a shared-globe, loot-based, expansive multiplayer ballsy: Destiny. This was the first major title outside of the Halo universe that Bungie took on subsequently splitting from Microsoft, at the time teaming upwards with Activision to create this game, which was pitched as a platform that would last for the next ten years. While that program would encounter some revisions and the overall reception to the game would shift with just most every update, residual change, and expansion information technology got, it did show that this new style of game could exist very profitable despite such high investment costs.

Nosotros go a very good thought ofDestiny's evolution budget thanks to Bungie's deal with Activision, which was initially planned to produce four games. In the cease, we only got 2 before the two parted ways and Bungie was able to regain control of the IP. Information technology at present seems to desire to support Destiny 2every bit a platform rather than start over once again with a tertiary game. However, the development budget we tin gather from those documents ends upward at $140 million in 2014. Equally far as marketing is concerned, that's where things get fuzzy. Activision in one case stated the total cost of the game was $500 million, but Bungie denied those claims. Just like before, assuming the marketing cost was zilch, that still leaves Destinycosting nearly $151 million adjusted for aggrandizement.

Read our full Destinyreview

Dead Space 2 — $136 1000000

Probably one of the almost surprising entries on this list is the sequel to one of the Xbox 360 and PS3 generation'south all-time new horror IPs, Expressionless Space 2. The starting time game was a modern reinvention of survival horror, taking elements from the massively pop Resident Evil 4, only with a sci-fi twist. Afterward the first game's strong sales, a sequel was inevitable, but publisher EA wanted to push this nevertheless-budding serial to the maximum. The action was ramped upward, new monsters were introduced, more disturbing imagery and ready pieces were packed in, and a very unnecessary multiplayer style was included to try and dissuade players from trading in the game after completing it.

This is another game where the marketing budget matched the evolution costs, which at this point might seem reasonable in comparison to the more than expensive games already listed. Visceral was given $threescore meg to create the sequel, and another $60 million was spent on marketing it. The higher budgets in both areas can clearly be seen compared to the first game. The kickoff was modestly sized, grounded, and had few "big" moments and a subdued marketing entrada focusing on the horror. Expressionless Infinite 2, on the other manus, had many more full-on action roller coaster-type scenarios and a massive E3 presentation amid some controversial advertizement campaigns. We all remember the "your mom will hate this game" commercials, right?

Read our full Dead Space 2review

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Source: https://www.digitaltrends.com/gaming/the-most-expensive-games-ever-developed/

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