It is not a secret that the cost of AAA game development has been skyrocketing over the years. In 2024, five triple-A games that flopped led to the loss of over $1 billion in development costs. A new report suggests the number now hovers around $300 million.
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In a post on BlueSky, Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier wrote, “Exact budgets of video-game productions can be tough to corroborate (more transparency from publishers would be nice!) but the numbers I’ve heard floating around AAA game dev these days are $300 million or more — sometimes much more! — which I think helps explain the current state of the industry.”
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In an explainer, Schreier said the cost of AAA game development mentioned was for productions in the US and Canada. He added that games developed elsewhere could cost so much less. The moving parts that contribute to the cost include dev salaries and overhead.
Factors that contribute to the high cost of AAA game development
Clair Obscur Expedition 33
In a January post on Bloomberg, Schreier tried to explain some of the factors that contributed to the rising cost of AAA game development. Some of the points that have been attributed to the bloating cost of game development include:
- Wasteful spending
- Rising labor costs
- The quest for graphic fidelity
- Growing scope of games
- Large open worlds
- Rise in the cost of living
The cost of making games was far less two decades ago. For example, Uncharted 2: Among Thieves cost Naughty Dog $20 million to make in 2009. However, their most recent release, 2020’s The Last of Us Part II, cost $220 million.
Regardless of the rising cost of AA game development, smaller teams are still making great games with far less budget. ARC Raiders reportedly cost around $75 million, while Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 reportedly had a budget of less than $10 million.
The game of the year winner reportedly kept costs low by avoiding an open-world structure and using targeted outsourcing for animation. As of early December 2025, the game had sold 5 million copies.
Do you think that big budgets help to make games more fun and immersive? Share your thoughts in the comment box below.
