Creating a video game takes passion, creativity, and a serious financial investment. Development budgets can range from a few thousand dollars for indie games made by small teams to over $500 million for AAA blockbuster titles, so the video game production costs can vary wildly. So, how much money does it take to make a video game from concept to reality in 2024?
This comprehensive guide examines the expenses involved in making different types of video games. We analyze the teams, timelines and budgets behind indie games, mid-tier games, and lavish AAA productions. You’ll discover how factors like graphics complexity, gameplay scope, and target hardware impact budgets.
We also explore why costs have escalated so drastically and whether bigger budgets necessarily result in better games. Let’s breakdown exactly how much does it cost to develop a video game of all scales in the modern industry landscape.
How Much Does It Cost to Make a Video Game In 2024?
Most Popular Types of Games – From Indie to AAA
The video game industry offers a wide range of games across different genres, scopes and budgets. On one end of the spectrum are AAA (triple-A) games – the blockbusters with large development teams and multi-million dollar budgets. On the other end are indie games made by small teams on shoestring budgets. In between lie mid-tier games made by medium-sized studios.
AAA games are the most expensive and risky proposition in the industry. They are made by large publishers like EA, Activision and Ubisoft, with development budgets ranging from $40 million to over $100 million. By the way, these companies often outsource game development to a company like KevuruGames.
AAA games usually have the highest production values, featuring cutting-edge graphics, motion capture animations, orchestral soundtracks and celebrity voice talent. Popular AAA franchises include Call of Duty, FIFA, Assassin’s Creed and Grand Theft Auto.
Medium-sized studios produce mid-tier games with budgets ranging from $10 million to $50 million. Their scope and polish may not match AAA extravaganzas, but they offer greater creativity and innovation, like Electronic Arts’s A Way Out.
Finally, indie games are produced by small independent developers, usually self-funded or Kickstarter-funded. So, how much do video games cost to make? Most indie games have modest budgets under $5 million and often under $1 million. Indie developers and designers prize creative freedom over big budgets, and some breakout indie hits like Stardew Valley and Shovel Knight have defined genres.
The Team Needed to Develop a Game
Game development is a collaborative effort involving various disciplines.
Here is a breakdown of average annual salaries for various game development roles:
- Game Designer – $65,000
- Game Programmer – $75,000
- Software Engineer – $90,000
- 3D Artist – $60,000
- Animator – $55,000
- Level Designer – $65,000
- Sound Designer – $75,000
- Game Tester – $50,000
- Producer – $80,000
Of course, salaries vary widely based on experience, studio size and location. However, if you consider the development services of 3D outsourcing companies, you will most likely find a profitable option.
Development Costs for Each Game Genre, Including Team Size
The cost to make a video game depends greatly on its scope and scale. Here is a general video game budget breakdown:
Indie Games:
- Video Game Budget – Less than $5 million
- Team Size – 1-15 people
- Duration – 1-3 years
Most indie games have budgets under $1 million, and team sizes less than 10. Many successful indie titles have been made by solo developers or teams of less than 5. Indie games succeed by having unique ideas and creative gameplay rather than expensive production values.
Mid-Tier Games:
- Video Game Budget – $10 million – $40 million
- Team Size – 50-150 people
- Duration – 2-4 years
Mid-tier games offer more depth, scope and polish than typical indie games. They require larger, specialized teams working for several years. Some mid-tier developers use their greater resources for ambition and innovation.
AAA Games:
- Video Game Budget – Over $40 million ($100 million+ common)
- Team Size – Hundreds of developers
- Duration – 3-5 years
The blockbusters of the gaming world, AAA games have massive, multi-year productions involving hundreds of specialized developers. Top-tier talent is employed in art, programming, animation, sound and testing roles. The largest AAA games enter development with budgets over $500 million.
Is there a Link Between the Costs of Developing Video Games and Sales?
Higher budgets certainly don’t guarantee hit games. Many AAA games with $100 million+ budgets have flopped. And many indie games on tiny budgets have become huge hits.
However, larger budgets generally allow for more depth, scope and polish – elements that help drive strong review scores and sales. The average cost to make a video game (AAA) is 3-5 times more to make than the average indie game, and it sells 10-20 times as many copies as the regular indie game.
However, indie games enjoy much greater profit margins. An indie game made for $1 million that sells 500,000 copies has made a nice return. Meanwhile, a $100 million AAA game would need to sell 8-10 million copies just to break even.
This explains why indie games have flourished in recent years. Digital distribution and online stores like Steam have allowed indie developers to reach players directly – no need to convince risk-averse publishers to fund their ideas.
The indie gaming sector will continue growing, but big-budget AAA games will endure as major economic drivers thanks to their greater sophistication and marketing strengths.
Why Is Game Development So Expensive In 2024?
Game development has always been an expensive proposition. But the average cost to make a video game has escalated thanks to greater technical sophistication and higher customer expectations. Here are some key reasons why making a competitive, high-quality game is more expensive than ever in 2024:
- More Realistic Graphics: Modern AAA games feature photorealistic environments and characters – on par with Hollywood CGI movies. Developing these assets requires bigger art teams, specialized software like Maya and ZBrush and computing resources for rendering.
- Greater Scale & Depth: Today’s largest open worlds are magnitudes larger and more detailed than those in decade-old games. Creating such expansive worlds with intricately scripted missions takes huge, coordinated teams.
- Sophisticated AI: From squad tactics to simulated societies, today’s game AI is lightyears ahead of primitive behaviors in past games. Programming human-like behaviors require specialist programmers.
- Extended Development Cycles: The longest AAA cycles now last over 5 years. Games have become too complex to make in 1-2 years. But longer cycles ramp up video game production costs for developer salaries, equipment leases, etc.
- Celebrity Talent: It’s now common for AAA games to feature Hollywood actors and renowned musicians. Their involvement adds millions in costs but also helps market games as high-profile cultural events.
- Live Services & Updates: Many AAA games operate on a “games as service” model – releasing new online content and updates for years. Maintaining live ops teams adds substantially to costs.
While vectors like digital distribution and accessible game engines have democratized development, costs continue rising for AAA games, seeking to push technical and creative boundaries.
The Relationship Between Cost and Complexity
In almost every entertainment medium, the most expensive projects also tend to be the most complex. Games are no exception. In fact, game development may showcase the closest correlation between how much does a video game cost to make and how complex it is.
The more sophisticated a game seeks to be – in graphics, AI, physics systems, etc. – the larger the specialized teams needed to develop and integrate those elements. A 2D indie puzzle game could reasonably be made by a solo developer. But an immersive 3D open-world game with advanced AI requires coordination between hundreds of artists, designers, programmers, testers, etc.
Game complexity also extends development cycles. The simplest games can be made in 6 months, but the most complex AAA games now have 5+ year development cycles. Longer cycles mean bigger budgets to pay salaries and equipment leases for all that time.
Essentially, greater complexity demands greater human resources and development time. Which directly translates to higher costs. This explains why AAA games now have 9-figure budgets while 2D indie games can get made for 5 figures.
However, complexity does not guarantee quality. Some of the most innovative and best-reviewed games have come from indie developers on modest budgets. AAA publishers rely on complexity and cutting-edge production values to stand out. Making games more sophisticated tends to inflate how much does it cost to create a video game.
About Kevuru Games
For indie developers with artistic visions but limited resources, outsourcing asset creation can prove very beneficial. Kevuru Games is one such Ukraine-based game art studio and design company that has helped many small to mid-sized studios in a cost-effective manner.
Founded in 2013 by game art veterans, Kevuru offers end-to-end 2D and 3D art production services for gaming clients worldwide. Their specialties include concept art, 2D artwork, 3D modeling, animation, UI/UX design, level design and more.
Instead of expanding into a full-fledged studio, Kevuru focuses solely on art creation, allowing clients to focus resources on coding. They integrate seamlessly with existing teams through agile workflows. The studio’s portfolio spans vibrant 2D puzzle games to epic 3D RPG titles on PC, console and mobile platforms.
While art outsourcing has risks like communication gaps, Kevuru’s project management expertise helps avoid common pitfalls. Their technical art directors ensure assets not only look beautiful but also match diverse engineering requirements.
For indie studios, hiring one full-time 3D artist in North America may cost over $80,000 annually. Instead, the same video game budget example could contract multiple specialized artists at Kevuru Games for significant savings. Their tiered pricing levels cater from early-stage prototypes to large-scale productions.
By keeping teams small and overhead low, Kevuru delivers cost savings of 40-60% over typical North American art rates. This allows more indie studios to bring artistic visions to life without inflating budgets into untenable territories. Kevuru Games proves art outsourcing can unlock greater creativity in game development.
Conclusion
So, let’s summarize how much do video games cost. The costs for developing a video game can range from a few thousand dollars for a hobbyist indie developer creating a simple mobile game to over $100 million for a blockbuster AAA game pushing technical and creative boundaries.
In general, indie games are produced for under $5 million, mid-tier games range from $10 million to $40 million, and AAA games now commonly exceed $40 million for development alone.
What determines where a game falls on the budget spectrum depends greatly on its scope, scale and complexity. The more sophisticated the graphics, AI systems, gameplay mechanics and overall depth, the bigger the teams and longer the cycles needed. This ramps up expenses for salaries, software, equipment and more over time.
While AAA games cost orders of magnitude more to produce than indie games, they also sell many more copies thanks to greater sophistication and marketing muscle. However, indie games enjoy much healthier profit margins.
The video game industry supports developers, big and small. As technology continues evolving, both AAA publishers and scrappy indies will push creative and technical limits in their own ways – even if it means exponentially rising budgets for the next graphics arms race.
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