Big-budget PC and console games cost more largely because publishers keep larger teams working for longer, build more demanding games, and—especially for live-service titles—pay to launch and operate them after release. Those costs have risen as gaming revenue growth has cooled, making each blockbuster a larger financial bet. The public figures show how large individual projects can get, but they are selective examples, not a reliable average for all games.
Why are video games so expensive to make?
The largest expense is often the people making the game. Designers, programmers, artists, animators, writers, producers, and other specialists may work on a project for years. A bigger team or a longer schedule means more paid labor; delays can extend that commitment.
Boston Consulting Group (BCG) estimated that budgets for AAA PC and console games grew at a 6% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) from 2017 to 2022. It projected 8% CAGR from 2022 to 2028. These are BCG’s analysis and forecast, not figures from a complete audited database of game budgets. Its supporting chart adjusts costs to 2023 US dollars and includes full games and major expansions, but excludes routine downloadable content.
There is no single agreed definition of “AAA,” and broad budget estimates differ by source. BCG describes AAA production as commonly exceeding $100 million; McKinsey’s 2025 analysis says budgets often exceed $200 million, with a broad range of $200 million to $500 million and development periods of three to five years. These are market-level descriptions, not a standardized list of verified title budgets.
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Why do AAA games take so long to develop?
Large games combine many interdependent kinds of work: building technology and systems, creating environments and characters, producing missions and dialogue, testing, and preparing for release across platforms. Increasing a game’s technical or content ambitions can add work and coordination. A delay can also mean keeping part of the team in place longer, so scope and schedule affect costs together.
Unity CEO Matt Bromberg, quoted by McKinsey in 2025 from the Game Theory podcast by Lightspeed, contrasted “300 people in three years” with “100 people in a year.” His point was that a smaller, more efficient effort could let a company make more games. The comparison illustrates the labor and throughput trade-off; it is not a formula for calculating a particular game’s budget.
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What disclosed projects show about team size and time
Sony figures reported by Axios in June 2023 from a court filing put Horizon Forbidden West at $212 million over five years, with more than 300 full-time staff. The same report put The Last of Us Part II at around $220 million, with around 200 employees. These figures come from a poorly redacted legal filing, not from a standardized budget survey; the staffing and cost details should be treated as examples of scale, not industry averages.
How much does it cost to make a AAA game?
There is no defensible universal price. The answer depends on what is counted: development alone, marketing, an expansion rather than a full game, or years of post-launch operations. Budgets may also cover different periods and use different accounting conventions. Even well-publicized project figures cannot be combined into a precise market average.
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For a broad frame, McKinsey’s 2025 analysis describes AAA development budgets as often exceeding $200 million and cites a $200 million–$500 million range and three-to-five-year schedules. BCG’s 2024 report uses a lower threshold in describing AAA production as commonly a $100 million-plus endeavor. These estimates are not contradictory title-by-title measurements: they are broad descriptions from different analyses, using their own scopes and definitions.
What happens to costs after a game launches?
A game built to run as a live service has continuing costs beyond its initial development. BCG identifies data centers, matchmaking, operations, community engagement, and player support, alongside the longer development times associated with these games. If a publisher plans regular updates or ongoing online play, it must account for the people and infrastructure needed to keep the service running.
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That makes “the cost to make the game” an incomplete description for some releases. Initial production is one commitment; maintaining an online game and supporting its community is another. Public budget disclosures do not always make those boundaries easy to compare.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.How much of a game’s budget goes to marketing?
There is no established industry-wide series that cleanly separates marketing from development across publishers, so a universal percentage would be misleading. CD PROJEKT’s preliminary October 2023 figures for the Phantom Liberty expansion provide one explicit example: around PLN 275 million in production expenditures and approximately PLN 95 million for its global marketing campaign. Those amounts refer to one expansion, not an industry ratio.
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The distinction matters when comparing headline totals. A figure that includes marketing is not directly comparable to one covering development only. Marketing also varies with the project and business model. BCG points to user-acquisition costs as a pressure for mobile games, where privacy restrictions have made targeting and campaign measurement harder; that mobile issue should not be treated as equivalent to marketing a console or PC launch.
Why do rising budgets matter if games still sell?
BCG’s figures show a slowdown in gaming revenue growth over the periods it analyzed: revenue grew at a 13% CAGR from 2017 to 2021, then at 1% from 2021 to 2023. BCG projected 5% CAGR for 2023 to 2028. The last figure is a forecast, not a reported outcome.
Set beside BCG’s estimate and forecast for AAA PC and console budgets, this suggests costs have been rising faster than the revenue growth available to the market. That does not mean every expensive game loses money, or that budget growth alone caused a particular cancellation, delay, or studio closure. It does help explain why publishers may approach large projects as fewer, higher-stakes bets: each one ties up substantial labor and capital for years, while audience and revenue outcomes remain uncertain.
Quick Recap
How to compare game budget figures
- Check what the amount covers. Look for development, marketing, expansion costs, or post-launch support rather than assuming a headline total includes everything.
- Check the period. A figure accumulated over several years is not directly comparable to one that covers a shorter production window.
- Check the source and status. A company disclosure, a court-filing report, and an analyst’s broad range are different kinds of evidence. Note whether a company labels figures preliminary.
- Keep examples in perspective. A blockbuster budget demonstrates that a project reached a certain scale; it does not establish the median cost or show that every category of game spending rose equally.
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