Games with the largest budget in history

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.

Cyberpunk 2077
Cyberpunk 2077

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.

More articles

☛ Best online RPG games
Updated in January 2023 There is no doubt that online RPGs are some of the best and most massively multiplayer online games around. With their ever-growing popularity, it's not hard to find an engaging game that will keep you hooked for ...
☛ The best RPG games for PC
There are many unique and popular projects among role-playing games. This genre appeared in the 1970s. During its existence, it has undergone many changes. In this article, we will describe the best RPG games for the PC, their features and ...
☛ The best games for two
Living things are always looking for other creatures like you, so any gamer will be more interested in playing any game with your friends. The best games for two will give you a few pleasant hours with brothers or sisters, ...
☛ The best shooter games
Many users prefer the game genre of shooter. When choosing and buying a game, you must focus on several factors. The best PC shooters are popular due to their high-quality graphics and convenient management. The best shooting games on PC Half-Life. This is ...
☛ The most failed games of all time
Not all video games have been equally successful. As always in business, some projects do not lead developers to the planned result. Logic tells us that there must be more failures than successes. Nevertheless, the failures are also different. In addition, ...
☛ The TOP survival game for the PC
Fighting for life is what each of us had in mind from birth to the last day. However, when survival is an in-game format, the stress and level of responsibility become less, as well as the excess of problems that ...
☛ Average PC top games
Computers with average still features can install various video games. Some of them will not be able to operate at maximum performance. However, in the top games for the average PC, we want to describe those ones that do not ...
☛ The best games for the Xbox 360
Developers offer a wide range of games for the console, but not all of them are quality games. The developers present them to you in different stylistics. In this article, we will describe the best games for Xbox 360. We ...
☛ The best strategy games for PC
Many computer fans love games in the genre of strategy. The distinctive feature of these games is that you have to plan every action well in advance. You will need a lot of time to improve your character’s skills or ...
☛ Best games for an android without the Internet connection
There are situations where traffic is limited or absent, for example, outside the city, in the forest or on river islands. You may also have technical problems. Or you could not pay your subscription fee on time and therefore your ...