Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War cost a staggering $700m (£557m) to develop, a new report has revealed.
2019’s Call of Duty: Modern Warfare cost $640m (£509), while Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 cost $450m (£358), according to figures confirmed by publisher Activision in a court filing, reported by Game File.
On the one hand, these figures cover each game’s cost over their full lifecycle, it’s claimed, suggesting this also covers the development of post-launch support. On the other, these figures do not include the separate amount spent on marketing, which will almost certainly include additional hundreds of millions of dollars per title.
The numbers dwarf the development budgets of pretty much every other video game we’ve heard about – though development budgets are notoriously kept under-wraps.
The Last of Us Part 2 cost $220m to make, according to a poorly-redacted court document from Sony published in 2023. That same document also revealed a similar $212m cost to develop Horizon Zero Dawn, with 300 employees attached to the project for up to five years.
Is Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War the most expensive video game ever made? Probably not, but for a relatively standalone boxed product, it is exceptional.
As for what is the most expensive – well, things get more tricky when discussing live-service games. Gacha-powered anime role-player Genshin Impact is estimated to have cost $900m to date, with $100m spent on initial development then $200m each year since. Typically, most companies do not divulge such numbers, however. (I’d love to know how much Epic Games has spent on Fortnite to date.)