Activision reveals massive budget for Call of Duty; can go over $700 million

The budgets for big video games have risen significantly over the last decade. But by how much? No one usually knows. Call of Duty games are among some of the biggest video game franchises and now people have a general idea of how much some of the most successful CoD games cost Activision during its development.

This was all thanks to Gamefile, who went over a court filing that contained some hard numbers revealed by the current Creative Director of Call of Duty games, Patrick Kelly. The highest number was $700 million and what’s surprising is that it wasn’t even for the most recent game release.

Black Ops Cold War, released back in 2020 had spent well over $700 million in development which is massive. Other games in the filing were 2019’s Modern Warfare reboot which cost over $640 million and Black Ops III from 2015 which saw Activision pour over $450 million.

For context, there have been three and a half mainline Call of Duty game releases since 2020. Once again, while there is no confirmation that the new games had similar or even bigger development costs, judging by the timeline, it may be the case, especially with Black Ops 6.

Also Read: Call of Duty Black Ops 6 and Warzone players frustrated with cheaters and wants in-game changes

CoD games make massive amounts of profits

While the numbers certainly are quite high, the games also make a lot of profit for the company. The base price for Call of Duty games is usually around $60 to $70. Black Ops Cold War sold over 30 million copies which makes the revenue cross $2 billion.

That, however, isn’t a one-and-done deal as the games also feature an in-game store with cosmetics that generate further revenue. It is safe to say that the investment is worth making for the company. The rising cost of development also checks out as most recently, co-founder of Naughty Dog also revealed that even back in 2001, game development reached double digits millions.