When we look at the budgets set aside by studios for Hollywood blockbusters, the sums often seem astronomical; Especially since the marketing budget should always be added. Avatar 2? The budget is 460 million dollars. Star Wars: The Force Awakens? $447 million. Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom? $432 million.
While we’re on the subject of Star Wars, we’ll add the two Andor series to the huge budget that cost Disney $644.9 million; or $21.5 million per episode. Specifically, $515.7 million, a cut of the $129.2 million in tax earned for filming in the UK.
Avatar 2’s budget has dropped dramatically
Compare that to the numbers revealed by Patrick Kelly, head of Call of Duty video game franchise development on behalf of publisher Activision. According to the site Game file (via games industry.bizKelly made the disclosure last December at a hearing on the 2022 elementary school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, during which attorneys acting on behalf of victims of the shooting described Activision. “America’s most prolific and effective distributor of assault weapons.”
The development of the three Call of Duty games between 2015 and 2020 cost between $450 and $700 million each, with Call of Duty Black Ops 3 released in 2015 costing over $450 million and selling 43 million copies. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, which was released in 2019 and sold 41 million copies, cost more than $640 million.
The prize is, dare we say, the 2020 opus Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War, which cost more than $700 million, but “only” sold 30 million copies. Still, it was pretty good, as we wrote about it by carving out an interesting single-player campaign despite the inherent flaws of Activision’s multibillion-dollar franchise.
By comparison, The Last of Us: Part II cost Sony/Naughty Dog $220 million to develop. Cyberpunk 2077, from studio CD Projekt Red (which also has a live-action project based on its game), would have cost around $330 million. We’ll leave it to you to imagine the amount of money spent on the development of the upcoming GTA VI. Which, by the way, should be the biggest launch ever Throughout the history of the industry…
We’ve known for a long time that triple “AAA” games have production budgets in the hundreds of millions of dollars. But the numbers revealed regarding game development budgets in the Call of Duty saga are still staggering.
Source: Allocine
Rose James is a Gossipify movie and series reviewer known for her in-depth analysis and unique perspective on the latest releases. With a background in film studies, she provides engaging and informative reviews, and keeps readers up to date with industry trends and emerging talents.
