PlayStation exclusives are huge; there’s no doubt about it. These games feature some of the best actors and are made in a way that any blockbuster movie would be made. Hence, it would not be very surprising to know that those games were made with an insane budget. Recently, a document revealed the development budget for games like The Last of Us Part 2 and Horizon Forbidden West.
This revelation was pretty surprising to fans all over; they cannot fathom the amount of money Sony spends on those games.
The Last of Us Part 2 and Horizon Forbidden West were made on an insane budget!
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Years ago, when GTA V was about to launch, word spread that this open-world sandbox crime game was made on an insane budget. This budget was revealed to be around $137 million. Of course, the size and quality of that game justified that cost, and its success even recovered that cost pretty quickly. But that revelation was an eye-opener; it was surprising how much these games cost to make.
Years later, it has been revealed that The Last of Us Part 2, was developed under a budget of $220 million. While this game is not a massive open-world title, the technology backing it and the talent behind it justify the cost of its production. When someone boots up that game even today, they can clearly see where all that money went. The game quickly sold over 10 million copies and became a success, successfully recovering its cost.
Horizon: Forbidden West, is yet another sequel, which Guerilla Games developed on a budget of $212 million. Starring actors like Lance Reddick and being a gorgeous open-world experience, this game too seems to justify its production cost. Guerilla Games developed a bunch of new technologies for this game, increasing the cost. Within a year of its launch, the game sold close to 8.4 million copies, which is not something to scoff about considering this game is a console exclusive.
These development costs are indeed very high; they are Hollywood blockbusters high, but in most instances, they successfully make that cost back. And at the end of the day, that is all that matters.
Fans’ surprise at this revelation
A number of PlayStation fans who found out about this are pretty surprised by this development cost. Many seem to be wondering if these games justify that price, while others are unmoved by it. And some even wonder how some smaller games would have done with such a budget!
The Last of Us Pt. II cost $220 million to develop (200 Devs), Horizon Forbidden West cost $212 million (300 Devs), poorly redacted docs state
by u/Turbostrider27 in PS5
Wasteofradiation wonders what a genius like Hideo Kojima would achieve with that kind of budget.
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by u/wasteofradiation from discussion The Last of Us Pt. II cost $220 million to develop (200 Devs), Horizon Forbidden West cost $212 million (300 Devs), poorly redacted docs state
in PS5
RB8Gem9 mentions that both these games sold over 10 million units and were successes, recouping their high budget.
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by u/RB8Gem9 from discussion The Last of Us Pt. II cost $220 million to develop (200 Devs), Horizon Forbidden West cost $212 million (300 Devs), poorly redacted docs state
in PS5
Zephyrinthesky28 mentions that maybe COVID lockdown increased the budget of Forbidden West, and confirms that this game feels like an expensive game.
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by u/zephyrinthesky28 from discussion The Last of Us Pt. II cost $220 million to develop (200 Devs), Horizon Forbidden West cost $212 million (300 Devs), poorly redacted docs state
in PS5
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untouchable765 is just happy that these games keep earning big, as that would allow Sony to keep spending big on such titles.
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by u/untouchable765 from discussion The Last of Us Pt. II cost $220 million to develop (200 Devs), Horizon Forbidden West cost $212 million (300 Devs), poorly redacted docs state
in PS5
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People have said numerous times that the development costs of video games will not come down anymore. Given how much effort goes into making these Triple-A titles so big!
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