A huge team is involved in the creation of one game, it can reach not dozens, but several hundred people. Do not forget about the huge financial investments that are needed for the birth of the project. Due to such difficulties, not all games reach the end point, and even more so they receive approval from professionals and avid gamers. The path of creation lasts for years and requires great effort and coherence in work.
Currently, developers are not afraid to invest money in worthwhile projects. However, it is important to know that this game will become successful and can quickly pay off. As practice shows, not always large investments become the key to the birth of a gaming masterpiece. There are frequent cases of high-profile failures that were originally supposed to become legends. What is the largest amount spent on development by gamedevs? Find out from our review of the most expensive games.
Star Citizen
The project already contains more than 500 million dollars, and this is not the end. This is the most expensive game in the history of the industry. Most of the funds go to crowdfunding. The head of the developers is the famous Chris Roberts. He wrote such a game as Wing Commander.
As is known from open sources, at the beginning of 2023, investments are only gaining momentum. The game promises to become a cult. It would be a shame if this turns out not to be the case. We will soon find out if it can justify all the money and effort invested in it.
Red Dead Redemption 2
In second place of honor is Red Dead Redemption 2. It took a little less than $ 500 million to create it. The main part was spent on graphics, detailing and marketing.
In the first days of the opening of sales, the project was already in a huge plus, so the Rockstar developers were able to prove their correctness and professionalism. It is worth noting that this amount was invested in the release of the game, and the conversion to the open world required additional costs.
SWTOR
The Star Wars universe is still popular not only among movie lovers, but in the gaming world. Its creator is EA. Unfortunately, she does not seek to name the exact amount of investments in her project, but according to approximate estimates, it is about $ 200 million. It is worth considering that the game was released 10 years ago, and updates to it are being released to the present. This speaks of her clear success.
Since its release, Star Wars has earned over $1 billion. It is played by hundreds of thousands of gamers all over the planet, new customers come every day, so it’s definitely not necessary to talk about closing servers in the near future.
Call of Duty
The game has received mainstream recognition only in the last year. Of course, the first parts of it were also on top, but it was the variation for the Xbox 360 that became the shock wave to success.
Modern Warfare has become the best part of the entire series. It became the basis for a new branch of development. The developers spent about $ 250 million on the creation, finding themselves in a good plus after its release.
Grand Theft Auto V
GTA V is undoubtedly worthy of attention. Decent graphics, characters and car — what else do you need for success? To get such a great game, the company spent about 250 million dollars, and received more than 6 billion in return. Rockstar had no doubts about the success of the project. The game is still on sale, and each update becomes even more successful.
Cyberpunk 2077
Cyberpunk 2077 went down in gaming history for a long time as the most expensive project with big problems and improvements. The developers have invested more than 300 million in its release, but still fixed a lot of bugs after the launch.
However, if there are two opinions about the launch of Cyberpunk 2077, then later the company managed to rehabilitate itself and prove the quality of the project. Of course, the developers themselves did not expect such difficulties, but it was a great moment to reconsider priorities.
Final Fantasy VII
The last place in our ranking is occupied by Final Fantasy VII. She demanded only $140 million. Compared to the previous examples, this is a weightless investment. But speaking in a large-scale segment of the gaming industry, the project attracts attention due to its high cost.
Final Fantasy VII is the first title in the series to receive positive reviews. It was originally released in CD-ROM format, with most of it spent on advertising.
