Full post: Exact budgets of video-game productions can be tough to corroborate (more transparency from publishers would be nice!) but the numbers I’ve heard floating around AAA game dev these days are $300 million or more — sometimes much more! — which I think helps explain the current state of the industry
To address some frequently asked questions:
- These are US and Canada productions. If you’re wondering why game X cost so much less, it was probably made elsewhere
- These budgets are almost entirely dev salaries + overheard and have nothing to do with executive compensation (which is mostly stock)
Sorry that I was not more clear. The company is paying the employee 120k gross, yes, but then also paying other things behind the scenes like other taxes and unemployment insurance, etc.
Yup. If you’re not an independent contractor, your employer has to match the amount you pay in income taxes.