For the first time since the invention of video games, the development and promotion costs were relatively small. The commercial perspective of such digital products was not yet clear.
Years went by and big businesses began to realize that computer games could be a good source of money. That’s when the budget war started. According to this, the higher the investment, the more efficient it is possible to market the product, the higher the expected sales.
The sudden increase in investment in video games has been attributed to the introduction of PlayStation. Yet, the cost of the development itself remained within reasonable limits, and the investment in marketing had increased enormously. Among such costs is:
- Special effects that do not play a direct role in the games themselves, and that were intended to impress gamers, attract them to the brightness and unusual graphics and music in the game.
- Development costs have increased significantly since the introduction of 3D graphics formats.
- Increased competition forced developers to raise rates. In today’s gaming world, development budgets alone start at $100 million.
Nevertheless, inflation is another important factor. Today, the dollar price is much lower than it was twenty years ago.
The most expensive games list
Games with the largest budget have not always been best-selling games, but the amount of money spent on developing a project influences how much software improvement this game will receive in the future. This will allow it to improve its schedule and get new special effects. These are the very things that gamers love so much and encourage them to buy a game.
Below is a list of the five most expensive games in history:
- Star Citizen. $380.000.000. It is notable that this most high-budget game project in history turned out to be crowdfunding (meaning that the game was entirely sponsored by fans). This project is still working because the donation process was very slow.
- Star Wars: The Old Republic. $200.000.000. An incredibly large budget allowed developers to create a perfect voice for dialogue and create a successful RPG-MMO hybrid. This game was released ten years ago; however, it has high popularity even today.
- Cyberpunk 2077. $174.000.000. The project’s promotional budget was around $300 million, and this was influenced by the inclusion of actor Keanu Reeves. Despite such a large budget, the game had detractors too.
- Red Dead Redemption 2. $240.000.000. The game’s interpretation of the Cowboy Saga greatly enhanced Rockstar’s reputation, which had previously been well respected by users. As a result, the project gave developers over $750 million in profits.
- Marvel’s Avengers. $190.000.000. Despite such a large budget and great marketing attention, this game has become a banal project with a ridiculous plot and heroes.
As a result, we can say that developers, when looking for money, very often hoped for popularity and that there would be many buyers of the game. They also drew on the experience of their rivals in the development world.
Marketing is a good decision. However, the level of creative breakthrough is not just about money. This is also influenced by gamer inspiration.
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