List of Most Expensive Video Games Ever Made

In the past, the price of making video games was not as expensive as it is today. But today, the video games have become very popular among gamers. With the increase in innovation and technology, developers and publishers have to spend thousands of dollars to make even a single video game. However, game enthusiasts have a wide range of the best video games to choose from according to their preferences and interests.

Below, we will review the most-costly video games ever developed in history. Making video games needs a lot of consideration and key factors that cannot be ignored, that’s why they are very expensive. But remember that the costs mentioned here are an average estimate or cost for the video games as the companies do not prefer to tell the exact cost they have spent in the development.

Most Famous Video Games Ever Developed

Several video games are well-known that require the development cost in millions launch. These costs not only include the marketing prices, rather there are lots of other factors as well. Let’s have a look at the list of most expensive video games ever made:

Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain

One of the most expensive games, Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain is said to be the final Metal Gear video game of Hideo Kojima with an impactful Japanese maker having separated ways with Konami in the year 2015. However, the reason behind the instant and shocking separation is still a secret for everyone. But his last video game budget with this company is somehow a little bit known.

As per Eurogamer, a Japanese financial newspaper claimed that approximately, more than eighty million dollars have already been invested in the development of the game according to the reports of 2015, April. However, till September 2015, the total price was rumored to be around 100 million dollars, specifically in case we consider the factors and key considerations after the Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain was launched. Read more about the expensive music videos in the world.

Star Wars: The Old Republic

Instead of being launched almost ten ago, this game is constantly getting updates typically every day. If taking into account the money as well as time spent on its making, it will not be a shock though. BioWare Austin is the publisher of the game. News claims that Star Wars: The Old Republic had a development budget of around 200 million dollars, which includes it in one of the most costly and well-known games in history.

Although the game was a huge success as it made more than 1 billion dollars in revenue in the year 2011 when servers 1st went live. Since the game needs you to change to a free-to-play model, the revenue generated by Star Wars: The Old Republic is still more than 165 million dollars per year. Read more about the most expensive web series in the world.

Cyberpunk 2077 

Cyberpunk 2077 is another expensive game ever made. It is one of the most popular action games, played by a 1^st-person mercenary, and its face, hairstyle, body type, sound, clothing, specifications, and background can be customized. CD Projekt Red, who was a developer of this game, had put a lot of effort into the development of this game after 8 years of several delays.

The revenue generated by this game is very good, however, there were different glitches in its performance which led to worldwide criticism from gamers, resulting in the value of the development company decreasing by more than billions of dollars after its release. More than 316 million dollars that was invested in developing and promoting the game looks like a drop in the sea. Fortunately, the development company made a good profit on this cost. Read more about top most expensive GBA Games in the world.

Red Dead Redemption 2 

Although the sold copies of Red Dead Redemption 2 might not be as much as of GTA 5, this game highlights extensive details via its huge open world. However, the consideration of its detail came at an expensive price. The development cost of this game alone is estimated to be between $170 and 240 million, with more than 300 million dollars invested in the promotion.

Considering all of the factors, the actual price of Red Dead Redemption 2 might have crossed the mark of nearly a billion dollars. But it also generated an attractive revenue just 2 days after its launch, which was around 725 million dollars. It is safe to claim that the company Rockstar was able to create a good amount of profit through this game. Similar to GTA Online, the features of this game will undoubtedly have boosted the development price since its initial launch, so precisely the amount spent by the developer stays somehow a secret.

Destiny

In 2017, a sequel of this game was launched. Destiny along with its sequel have been remarkably popular games acquiring the label of being successful and winning several awards. However, the success was not free of cost, it required millions of dollars to make the game. It costs around 140 million dollars to make Destiny, with Bungie’s 1st publishing contract with Activision. Surprisingly, this might only be the start. Another sequel, Destiny 2 is bigger and more innovative than its previous sequel in each estimated way and the developer has invested much more as compared to its predecessor. However, a healthy profit was generated from Destiny and its sequel. Read more about the world most expensive TV albums that ever made.

Grand Theft Auto V

Since the 1st Modern Warfare of Activision sold more than 17m copies, they could easily spend money on the next sequel without thinking that it might not be a success. For Grand Theft Auto V, the development prices were comparably modest at 40-50 million dollars, but Activision invested a huge amount of 200 million dollars in its marketing throughout the world.

The game features a well-developed, almost perfect latest spec ops mode where different players can play together. Almost 5 million copies of the game were sold in only 1 day and it generated a revenue of 1 billion dollars in a couple of months. Rockstar North developed the game. This revenue was undoubtedly boosted when the Xbox and PlayStation ports of Grand Theft Auto V came in the year 2021. Including all, it earned a huge profit of approximately more than 6 billion dollars.

Max Payne 3

Ranked as one of the most expensive games, Max Payne 3 was launched by Rockstar. Rockstar was pressurized to make a video game that would not be just as amazing as the past games but also it should be a great success. For this game, Rockstar invested around 105 million dollars into the venture.

Max Payne 3 was launched in the year 2009, and the developers guaranteed that the sequel would carry on in its remarkably dark tone. Huge marketing was done for the game and this technique permitted the developers to get to the profit mark. However, the developer overestimated the sold copies of the game, leading to a ton of copies not being sold at the end.

Battlefield 4

The game was launched during the franchise of the popular game, Call of Duty. Due to this reason, the franchise of Battlefield 4 required a ton of money so that it would compete with Call of Duty’s sequel. The budget of this game was approximately 100 million dollars. Moreover, the players complimented Battlefield 4 for its amazing multiplayer feature. But unfortunately, the budget of the game was not up to the mark enough to beat its competitor. However, almost 7 million copies of Battlefield 4 were sold after its launch. It was developed by the EA. Instead of its impressive accomplishments, there was lots of effort put by the developers in making the game.