Overview
- Bloomberg reporter Jason Schreier said Thursday that many large U.S. and Canadian games now carry budgets of $300 million or more.
- He said most of that money goes to salaries and studio overhead, with executive compensation largely paid in stock rather than cash.
- At a $70 list price with a 30 percent store fee, he estimated a game would need to sell more than 6 million copies to cover a $300 million budget before marketing.
- Recent examples already passed that threshold, with Marvel's Spider-Man 2 around $315 million and Call of Duty entries ranging from more than $450 million to about $700 million over their lifecycles.
- Industry coverage highlighted pressure on teams and players, with Push Square warning that scope cuts can trigger layoffs and Wccftech quoting Denis Dyack saying AI tools will not reliably lower costs.