Call of Duty Development Costs Reach Record $700 Million for Black Ops Cold War

Court filings reveal escalating budgets for Call of Duty games, highlighting rising production expenses despite declining sales.

Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War, released in 2020, had a development cost exceeding $700 million, making it the most expensive game officially reported by a major publisher.
The court documents also revealed that 2015's Black Ops 3 cost over $450 million to develop, while 2019's Modern Warfare required $640 million in development expenses.
Despite the increasing budgets, sales figures for the franchise have declined, with Black Ops Cold War selling 30 million copies compared to 43 million for Black Ops 3.
These figures emerged as part of a lawsuit against Activision and Meta, alleging the companies influenced the Uvalde school shooter through their products.
The disclosed costs include ongoing post-launch support but exclude marketing expenses, which often add significantly to overall budgets.