Among the plethora of high-budget games that hit the shelves each year, the Call of Duty series holds a unique air of mystery, particularly concerning its production costs. While big names like Take-Two and Sony Interactive Entertainment occasionally share price tags for their blockbuster hits, Activision prefers to keep such details under wraps.
Surprisingly, developing a Call of Duty title is more costly than we might assume, especially when compared to other games often labeled as pricey. Recently, we’ve been given a rare glimpse into just how much cash has been poured into crafting some of the latest installments.
In a revelation by Stephen Totilo’s Game File newsletter, Activision recently pulled back the curtain, revealing budgetary and sales numbers for a few recent entries in the Call of Duty franchise. This information surfaced through court documents as part of a lawsuit involving Activision, stemming from the tragic events at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, in 2022.
According to the records, Patrick Kelly, the creative head of Call of Duty, disclosed that the budgets for games released between 2015 and 2020 exceeded $700 million per game. Specifically, 2015’s Black Ops 3 reportedly required a budget north of $450 million over three years of development, eventually selling 43 million copies.
Similarly, the 2019 reboot of Modern Warfare managed to move 41 million units, with a budget exceeding $640 million. Meanwhile, 2020’s Black Ops Cold War came out as the priciest, with a production cost over $700 million, though it sold fewer copies at 30 million. Each title was a massive collaborative effort involving hundreds of developers from various studios.
In the same court case—filed in May last year, which also mentions Instagram—the blame is partly directed at Call of Duty and the social media platform for influencing the shooter responsible for that tragic incident. The documents noted that the shooter played the three aforementioned Call of Duty games the most.
As Totilo highlights, these budget figures are the highest ever reported by a leading video game publisher, surpassing even the costs of some of the most expensive games, such as The Last of Us Part 2. In court, Sony disclosed that this game cost over $220 million to produce, a figure far eclipsed by Call of Duty standards.
