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I asked this same question here, but was closed and told to ask it on this site instead.
How much would it cost to develop a video game. I mean like a major PS3/360 video game. I know there really is no set price; but there has to be a pall bark, 100 grand, 10 mil, etc.
I am asking how much the games cost to make, (studio cost, developer salaries, etc.)
Examples would be nice.
Somewhere between $20M and $100M would be reasonable depending on genre for a AAA game. XBLA/PSN downloadable games often cost much less, and people have made XBLIG games for a few hundred dollars in their spare time. As a recent example, APB was rumored to have cost $100M (MMOs are among the most expensive games to produce).
Depending on your location and how awesome an office and benefits you're looking at, (in the US) you can count on $8,000 to $15,000 per developer per month. This is the fully loaded cost and includes IT and HR costs as well as equipment and other infrastructure.
For $8000 per person-month, though, you're going to be in a pretty crappy warehouse on the wrong side of the tracks in the middle of nowhere. In Southern California the range is more like 11-15k per person-month, although some studios may go even higher than that.
Edit: It's worth reiterating even though it's probably obvious. The above costs do not reflect the salaries alone. While there are a few people in the US game industry making $150k+, it is rare. The above numbers are salary plus benefits plus taxes plus facilities and all that jazz. Health insurance is huge, social security is 7.5% of your salary out of the company's pocket (and another 7.5% comes out of your paycheck), etc., etc.
It varies widely. Ballpark is 8 figures for a big-budget ("AAA") title these days... i.e. 10 to 100 Million (US $). But a lot depends on how you count, and there are tons of exceptions.
Here's a good way to guesstimate:
1) How many people on the team? A small team is around 20-30 people, large team would be several hundred. Look at the credits of a few games you own (either on the Credits screen from main menu if there is one, or in the back of the instruction book... or just check www.mobygames.com).
2) What was the length of development? Typical range for AAA development is 2-5 years.
3) Where was it developed? Games made in San Francisco are going to cost more in payroll than those made in Denver. Look up the IGDA Salary Survey, adjust for cost-of-living of the area, and cut it by a small amount because the Salary Survey is slightly inflated.
If you have a particular kind of game in mind, find some similar games (same genre, comparable production values) and you can probably research all three of the above things for a similar title.
Then, multiply: size of team (number of people) X length of development (years) X average annual developer salary ($/year). That gives you the baseline development cost in payroll.
Example for a small game: 20 people X 2 years X $40K/year = $1.6M Example for a large game: 200 people X 5 years X $60K/year = $60M
What about other "operations" costs (office space, computer hardware and software, electricity, payroll services, etc.)? Ballpark, estimate those as 25% of the total dev cost, with payroll being the other 75%. So multiply the above figure by an extra 4/3 to get the final dev cost estimate.
If you want to include publisher costs (manufacturing, distribution, advertising), ballpark that as equal to the dev cost, so multiply your figure by 2 to get the final total cost of a game.
Hint: next time you hear someone complain about how video games are so expensive because they cost $60, remind them that the little package in their hand cost a lot more than $60 to develop :)
Game development costs are something developers tend to keep pretty close to the vest, so it can be difficult to find examples.
In 2009, Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot is quoted as saying the cost for creating a major title for PS3 or Xbox 360 is typically between $20 million and $30 million.
Nintendo's Reggie Fils-Aime is quoted as saying costs can be $20 million up to a staggering $50 million with sales of 1.3 to 1.5 million units to make money.
Obviously, MMOs and games built in tandem with their engines, cost significantly more.
There is a list of most expensive games and their costs here.
Some items from the list:
Interestingly also on the list are some old games, like Dragon's Lair, costing $1.3 million in 1883.
You would need some serious cash upfront to fund the development of a game, and the people who lend you the money would need some strong evidence that you have the potential to make the game and profit from it, otherwise they wouldn't invest.
You could probably make a cheap AAA console title for $2 or $3 million, but that would be with quite a small team using existing technology. Anything content-rich would require more artists and/or designers and hence cost more. Most of the money goes on salaries, in any case.
There was a cool video game (PC and XBOX360) released a year ago by a big polish gamedev team. It's called The Witcher 2. It took them 30 milion zloty. It's something around 7 milion euros (9 milion dollars). A team of 100 people created 40+ hours of gameplay in 11 language versions.
Source (in Polish) http://www.nowiny24.pl/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20110222/GRY/744199752
