Why are AAA games so expensive to develop?

One reason is Moore's law. Computer graphics have improved enormously in the past 20 years; the graphics in Destiny, which was created by a team of around 500 people, are streets ahead of those in Doom, a seminal shooter released in 1993 that was written by a handful of friends. read more

Then the average development team size grew to two, then three, then five, then ten, then twenty, then fifty -- and now hundreds or even a thousand people may be involved in developing a AAA game. If a hundred-person team works for two years on a title, that's around $15 million in salaries (not counting other benefits, such as health insurance). read more

AAA games are made by employees each being paid somewhere between $40k and $120k per year for their time. Employees are expensive, and contractors are even more expensive. That's $1 million for every 10 employees per year. Skyrim had a team of 100 for over 4 years ($40 million). read more

By Dodger March 5, 2013 May 19, 2015 Bloggage, Game Design, Podcasts This was an FAQ I got from a lot of people, most recently from Youtuber Rebellion3112. read more