Video games are expensive to produce and are only getting more and more expensive as time goes on. With increasing graphical demands requiring more time from artists, animators, and designers in general, as well as a need for more content and longer playtime from consumers, the increase in cost for making a game shows no sign of slowing down.
But the video game industry is also very secretive, and unlike the film industry, most studios don’t share how much it costs to finance a game. Even so, there are some educated guesses that consumers can make, and sometimes, just sometimes, developers give a peek into what they truly cost.
10 Final Fantasy 9
Released in 2000 for the original Playstation, Final Fantasy IX remains a much-beloved classic of the series. Not long after the release of the game in July, the producer, Hironobu Sakaguchi sat down with NTV Tokyo to discuss both the game and the upcoming CGI movie Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within.
While there are a number of interesting insights into game development to be found throughout the archived article, during that interview he revealed that the budget for Final Fantasy 9 was approximately $40 million. Adjusted for inflation, that brings the current cost today to produce Final Fantasy IX to $59 million.
9 Rift
A popular free-to-play MMORPG, Rift manages to continue thriving even as more and more free-to-play MMOs flood the market, taking up some of Rift’s market share.
Like all MMOs, the exact budget spent on the game is a secret, but an interview with the former Trion Worlds CEO put the budget for Rift at approximately $50 million dollars. With an estimated $10-20 million in initial marketing, the estimated total cost for producing the initial launch of Rift can be placed at $60-70 million
8 Too Human
Too Human’s reputation is a difficult one to tackle. Having taken over ten years to produce, and having been partially developed for three separate consoles, it is no wonder that the game has one of the most expensive budgets for an RPG that we know of.
With an estimated budget of $60-100 million (worth $71-119 today), there was little chance for Silicon Knights to survive the ensuing lawsuit from Epic Games for the use of a stolen copy of Unreal Engine 3. While the game was unavailable for quite some time, players can once more experience it for free on the Xbox One.
7 Mass Effect: Andromeda
Mass Effect: Andromeda has a complicated history. Having to follow up the beloved initial trilogy of games in the Mass Effect series, the game had a hard barrier to entry — one that was not lightened with the changes to the dialogue system and numerous bugs.
With an estimated budget of $100 million, including marketing, the game still managed to sell an estimated 2.5 million copies in its first quarter, making back the estimated budget in revenue without ongoing sales for the lifetime of the game.
6 The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
Revealed during a financial presentation available on YouTube in the efforts of transparency with their players, CD Projekt Red revealed that the production budget of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt was approximately $80 million when converted to USD.
Evidently, a very good financial decision, as the company had already made over $62 million in profits from the first half of 2015 alone from the sales of their products. Given the wild success of the game, especially compared to its prequels, it is no wonder that CD Projekt Red remains the powerhouse developer that they are.
5 Genshin Impact
With an estimated budget of over $100 million, Genshin Impact has made numerous waves since its release across countless platforms in September of 2020. With the game having made over $60 million in revenue in the first week of release alone, miHoYo’s genius blend of exploration and roleplaying elements have earned the game over $1 billion in revenue as of March 31, 2021.
It’s not surprising, though, as games with gacha mechanics can bring in large revenue streams, and the fan community around the many, many characters leads to a strong desire to obtain them in-game.
4 Final Fantasy 7
One of the most beloved video games of all time, Final Fantasy VII was not a cheap endeavor for Square. Having made the switch to PlayStation rather than releasing on the Nintendo 64, Square made full use of the CD’s storage space to make a beautiful game — but beautiful games do not come cheap.
With an estimated $45 million budget in 1997, with an additional $100 million for marketing, the budget for the game reaches $127-231 million, including the marketing cost, after adjusting for inflation. Suffice to say, with the continued success of the Final Fantasy franchise, and of the Final Fantasy VII brand itself, the high cost of production was more than worth it.
3 Destiny
While it can be argued whether Destiny can be considered an RPG or not, it can not be argued that Destiny fulfills most of the requirements of what most people consider when they think of MMORPGs. From the intricate storyline to the need to farm weapons and gear to increase the player’s Light Level, Destiny is an RPG in all but name.
While the exact costs are debatable, estimates based on the Activision-Bungie contract put the total cost at around $140 million, increased with inflation to $151 million today. However, with the ongoing costs of every Destiny and Destiny 2 expansion, the actual costs are likely much, much higher.
2 Star Wars: The Old Republic
As stated previously, when it comes to MMORPGs, estimated costs become even more expensive than regular games. This can be attributed to the fact that the games not only have to work for people who want to play them solo, but they have to account for constant connectivity to servers, large player bases, and an ongoing need for new content.
Created by BioWare in 2011, the original launch of Star Wars: The Old Republic had an estimated budget of over $200 million. While not as impressive as Genshin Impact’s $1 billion in under a year, as of 2019, the game was closing in on the $1 billion mark in revenue.
1 Cyberpunk 2077
Costing more in the developmental budget alone than most of the items on this list, Cyberpunk 2077 has an estimated production budget of over $121 million. Given the company’s prior success with The Witcher 3 and the sheer anticipation that the Cyberpunk license held from its fans, this is no surprise.
CD Projekt Red knew they would need to spend large sums of money to ensure the fanbase would remain happy. Adding on an approximately $209 million advertising budget, and Cyberpunk 2077 wins out as the most expensive RPG to make, at least that we can estimate the costs of.
NEXT: 10 RPGs That Only Make Sense On A Second Playthrough
