Call of Duty Reveals Massive Development Budgets

Record-Breaking Call of Duty Budgets: A Look at the Rising Costs of AAA Game Development

Recent disclosures reveal staggering development budgets for several Call of Duty titles, reaching unprecedented heights within the video game industry. Budgets for three specific games—Black Ops 3, Modern Warfare (2019), and Black Ops Cold War—have been revealed, ranging from $450 million to a jaw-dropping $700 million.

This unprecedented spending underscores the escalating costs associated with creating modern AAA games. While indie games often thrive on smaller, community-funded budgets, the AAA landscape operates on a vastly different scale. The budgets of blockbuster titles have steadily increased over the years, dwarfing even those of previously considered "expensive" classics. Games like Red Dead Redemption 2, Cyberpunk 2077, and The Last of Us Part 2, while costly, pale in comparison to the newly revealed Call of Duty figures.

Activision's head of creative for the Call of Duty franchise, Patrick Kelly, revealed these figures in a December 23rd California court filing. Black Ops Cold War, with its over $700 million budget, stands out as the most expensive video game ever produced, surpassing even Star Citizen's substantial $644 million development cost. This is particularly noteworthy considering Star Citizen's reliance on crowdfunding over eleven years, while Black Ops Cold War was financed solely by Activision.

The sheer scale of these budgets provides a stark contrast to earlier eras of game development. The 1997 release of Final Fantasy VII, a groundbreaking title for its time, cost a then-substantial $40 million. This figure highlights the dramatic increase in development costs over the past two decades. The trend of rising annual budgets suggests that future Call of Duty installments, such as a hypothetical Black Ops 6, will likely see even higher development costs.

The recently revealed Call of Duty budgets serve as a clear indicator of the escalating financial demands within the modern AAA video game industry. The massive investment required to produce these titles highlights the complexity and scale of modern game development.