Microsoft and Activision’s first-person shooter series, Call of Duty, has an average development budget of 500 million US Dollars.
In a recent court filing (via), Patrick Kelly, Activision’s current head of creative for the Call of Duty franchise, revealed that the development budet for 3 Call of Duty titles released between 2015 and 2020 averaged at around 500 million US Dollars. Additionally, it was stated the aforementioned games sold 30 million copies or more. The information comes from a declaration submitted by Kelly to a California court on December 23, 2024. The filing forms part of Activision’s legal response to a lawsuit filed in May, 2024, over the tragic 2022 school shooting at Robb Elementary in Uvalde, Texas.
Call of Duty Titles’ Development Budget Breakdown
Kelly’s statements regarding the development costs for Call of Duty games released between 2015 and 2020 can be seen below.
- Black Ops 3 (2015): “Treyarch developed the game over three years with a creative team of hundreds of people, and invested over $450 million in development costs over the game’s lifecycle.” (Kelly also discloses that it has sold 43 million copies.)
- Modern Warfare (2019): “Infinity Ward developed the game over several years and has spent over $640 million in development costs throughout the game’s lifecycle.” (41 million copies sold)
- Black Ops: Cold War (2020): “Treyarch and Raven Software took years to create the game with a team of hundreds of creatives. They ultimately spent over $700 million in development costs over the game’s lifecycle.” (30 million copies sold)
The lawsuit pertaining to the Uvalde school shooting partially attributed the tragedy to Meta’s Instagram and Activision’s Call of Duty, alleging that their platforms and content influenced the teenage perpetrator of the mass shooting, which claimed the lives of 19 students and two adults.
In comparison to the development budgets mentioned above for Call of Duty Black Ops 3, Call of Duty Modern Warfare (2019), and Call of Duty Black Ops: Cold War, Sony Interactive Entertainment first-party titles The Last of Us Part II and Horizon Forbidden West had a development budget of 220 and 212 million US Dollars, respectively. Read about it here.
