Call of Duty: $1.8 Billion Development Cost Revealed

Call of Duty’s Billion-Dollar Budget

Court documents reveal the shocking development costs of three Call of Duty games: Black Ops 3, Modern Warfare (2019), and Black Ops Cold War. These costs, obtained from a court filing viewed by Game File, dwarf even the most expensive movie productions.

Breakdown of Development Costs

Black Ops 3: Over three years in development, costing over $450 million and selling 43 million copies.

Modern Warfare (2019): Development costs exceeded $640 million, with 41 million copies sold.

Black Ops Cold War: The most expensive, exceeding $700 million in development costs, and selling 30 million copies.

Combined, these three games cost nearly $1.8 billion – significantly more than even the most expensive movie productions. This figure excludes marketing expenses.

Industry Context and Future Projections

Game development costs are notoriously secretive. Rumors suggest Skull and Bones cost over $850 million. Genshin Impact holds the current record (including ongoing costs), but GTA VI is expected to surpass all previous records upon release. The revelation of these costs came from Activision’s head of creative, Patrick Kelly, in a lawsuit related to the 2022 Uvalde school shooting.