A billion-dollar video game budget may seem surprising at first glance, but it starts to make sense once you consider that a modern game often has just as many moving pieces as a Hollywood production. You need actors, writers, programmers, animators, designers and composers among others to make an expansive open-world game. And short of a few outliers like the Avatar series, movies are typically in active production for a couple of years. GTA VI has been in active development for closer to a decade. Once a game is nearing completion, it usually goes through a rigorous testing process that requires yet another team.
Apart from a handful of indie breakthroughs, it’s common for game budgets to quickly spiral into the double or triple-digit millions these days. Game development can also take several years, with hundreds of employees dedicated to a single project.
Development costs and timelines have been steadily rising, though. In 2023, court documents revealed that Sony Interactive Entertainment had spent $212 million on Horizon Forbidden West and $220 million on The Last of Us: Part II.
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