In a court file, Activision officials reveal the development costs of several games in the successful “Call of Duty” series. One part of the series is even becoming the most expensive game of all time – at least based on publicly known figures.
Where do the details come from? On December 23, 2024, Activision officials submitted a statement in a court in California, which among other things concerned the development costs of various parts of the “Call of Duty” series.
Patrick Kelly, the creative lead of the popular shooter franchise, confirmed the figures mentioned in the file in court:
- Call of Duty Black Ops III from 2015 is reported to have cost $450 million (43 million units sold).
- The development costs of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare from 2019 rose to more than $640 million (41 million units sold).
- Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War from 2020 is said to have cost more than $700 million (30 million units sold).
Here is a trailer for the latest installment of the Call of Duty series:
What do these figures mean? It is rare for large developers and publishers to publicly reveal the enormous costs of their AAA productions. This usually happens through insider reports or – as in this case – during court proceedings.
Please note that these figures only cover pure development costs. The costs for marketing, for example, are usually added on top (and frequently also include high triple-digit million figures for blockbusters).
Also important: The figures are not adjusted for inflation, but only represent the costs in the respective years of development. To meaningfully compare the development costs of different games separated by multiple years, one should always keep inflation in mind.
How does Call of Duty compare to other blockbusters? Here are some other notable AAA productions whose development costs have leaked:
- The Last of Us 2: about $220 million in pure development costs
- Horizon Forbidden West: about $212 million in pure development costs
- Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 is reported to have had a budget (likely including marketing) of $305 million
- The initial version of Cyberpunk 2077 is said to have cost about $316 million (including marketing)
Looking at these figures, it is not surprising that the top 5 most expensive games of all time (via wikipedia.org) now includes the three parts of the Call of Duty series mentioned above. Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War ranks first, even when adjusted for inflation.
Note about the top list:
- With the GTA and Red Dead Redemption series from Rockstar missing, two of the undoubtedly most expensive franchises in video game history are absent from the top list. According to a leak, GTA 6 was said to have cost a staggering 2 billion US dollars by 2022. Unfortunately, the Rockstar officials guard their internal data as fiercely as nuns their virginity. Therefore, officially confirmed figures are missing.
- Although Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War is just over four years old, four more installments of the shooter series have been released since then. Looking at the rising development costs since 2015, it seems very likely that a Black Ops 6 from 2024 might be even more expensive.
- The crowdfunding of Star Citizen currently stands at over $775 million. How much of this has gone into areas such as marketing, which are not included in development, is unclear. At the beginning of 2024, the distribution was reported to be as follows: $514 million for development versus $116 million for marketing (via cloudimperiumgames.com)
What does this mean for players? Such high development costs must, of course, pay off for developers and publishers. The widespread incorporation of service elements such as microtransactions through in-game shops or battle passes is a consequence of this, as are rising prices for full-price titles, premium consoles, and subscription offers.
When spending such large amounts of money, developers typically have to minimize every form of risk and appeal to the largest possible target audience. Therefore, one should not expect too many innovations or bold design decisions from franchises like Call of Duty. As for the biggest blockbuster release of 2025, the forecasts are very positive. One report states: GTA 6 will be more successful at release than the two biggest films of 2024 combined
