'Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War' cost Activision $700 million to develop - making it the most expensive game of all time.
Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War
According to a court filing – which was part of a lawsuit regarding the 2022 school shooting at Robb Elementary in Uvalde, Texas – submitted by the publisher, several 'Call of Duty' titles' budgets and earnings have been revealed, with the 2020 shooter costing a whopping $700 million to produce while it "only" sold 30 million copies.
Now that 'Cold War's cost has been brought to light, the title has become the most expensive game in the industry's history – dethroning Cloud Imperium Games' unreleased 'Star Citizen', which is currently estimated to have so far cost upwards of $656 million.
The filing also showed that Activision - which was acquired by Microsoft in 2023 for nearly $69 billion - spent $450 million on 2015's 'Black Ops 3', and $640 million on 2019's 'Modern Warfare', with the games selling 43 million and 41 million units respectively.
These figures – which were disclosed by the series' Creative Director Patrick Kelly - don’t just cover the development process, as they also include on-going live-service costs and high-profile crossovers with popular brands, such as 'Squid Game' and 'Warhammer 40,000'.
However, these figures do take into account the marketing budgets of the games, which will only balloon the true cost of the aforementioned 'Call of Duty' titles even more.
The filing did not include any data on the most-recent 'Black Ops 6', though Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella previously said the 2024 title was "the biggest 'Call of Duty' release ever".