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Did you know that Grand Theft Auto V is out on shelves? Of course you did. How else did GTA V make an astounding $800 million in the first day of release. Besides raking in a ton of dough for Rockstar Games, the latest release in the Grand Theft Auto franchise has earned critical praise as well. Not too shabby for a series that has been criticized for excessive violence.
On top of breaking sales records, GTA V made headlines for becoming the most expensive video game to develop with an estimated budget of $266 million, which includes marketing as well. To put that into perspective, that’s a bigger budget than James Cameron’s special effects extravaganza Avatar had, which was $237 million. But, what are some other pricey video game budgets? We’re glad you asked, because here’s the ten most expensive games to develop and market.
10. Halo 3
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9z36WDj2PcU[/youtube]
Released in 2007, the third release in the Halo series cost around $55 million and was only avaialbe for the XBox 360.
9. Too Human
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vb4bOeaQCeY[/youtube]
This RPG hit shelves in 2008 for the Xbox 360 and had an estimated budget of $60 million.
8. Metal Gear Solid 4
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P6V0JDyHoAU[/youtube]
Metal Gear’s fourth edition cost about $60 million to develop and was released in in 2008 for the PS3.
7. Shenmue
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xl9QMfh33WE[/youtube]
Back in 1999, Dremacast released Shenmue, which had had a mind-blowing budget of $70 million.
6. Gran Turismo 5
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4hDEaWAEYUs[/youtube]
In 2010, Gran Turismo 5 and its $80 million budget was released for the PS3.
5. Disney Infinity
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vz61FxmTOVM[/youtube]
Disney dropped a cool $100 million for Infinity, which is available for PS3, Xbox 360, Wii U, Nintendo 3DS, PC.
4. Red Dead Redemption
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3gBctl1h_2o[/youtube]
Rockstar loves to spend a ton of cash for game development, for example, the studio spent $100 million for 2010’s Red Dead Redemption.
3. Grand Theft Auto IV
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M80K51DosFo[/youtube]
Another game that had a budget of around $100 million was Grand Theft Auto IV which was released in 2008 for the PS3, Xbox 360, PC.
2. Star Wars: The Old Republic
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z0RuR3FREFw[/youtube]
EA, BioWare and Lucas went all out for 2011’s Star Wars: The Old Republic with a $200 million budget. A gutsy move for a game that was only available on PC.
1. Grand Theft Auto V
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hvoD7ehZPcM[/youtube]
As mentioned earlier, Rock Star dropped $266 million for Grand Theft Auto V. It looks like the price tag has already payed off. Big time.
