If you’ve always wondered how much it costs to make a game in the Call of Duty franchise, now we have the answer. At least, a partial answer.
Thanks to GameFile, the development costs and sales figures for some games in the Call of Duty franchise have been revealed. The figures were released by Patrick Kelly, the franchise’s current Creative Director, in a court case.
Let’s get to the data:
The cost and sales of the Call of Duty franchise
Black Ops 3, released in 2015, cost an absurd $430 million dollars. The game sold 43 million copies. Modern Warfare 2019, the game that revitalized the franchise and brought back Warzone, cost $640 million and sold 41 million copies. Finally, Black Ops Cold War, released in 2020, cost 700 million dollars and sold “only” 30 million copies.
Despite the astronomical figures, the games manage not only to pay for themselves but also to generate a huge profit for Activision’s coffers. In addition to the direct sale of the game, which costs the full price of U$70, the publisher earns millions from the sale of skins and CoD Points.
For some time now, the Season Pass has been enhanced with Blackcell, serving as an incentive for players to spend more money. With the figures uncovered, Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War takes over as the most expensive game ever made.
This is, of course, according to current public data. More recent CoDs, such as the recently released Black Ops 6, probably was more expensive to be made. Besides that, there’s no doubt that GTA 6’s costs must be just as enormous.
What do you think of the costs of developing games in the Call of Duty franchise? Join the discussion in our forum.
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