Both TLOU Part II and Horizon Forbidden West cost over $200 million to develop

With each new generation we have seen the development cost of video games rise. Whether it be due to studio ambitions or player expectations, there’s no denying that video games have become more expensive to make. Thanks to some badly redacted documents, we know just how much some of Sony’s recent first-party games have cost to develop.

As reported by The Verge, some of the documents supplied by Sony to court for the ongoing Microsoft FTC hearing have had their redacted details revealed. According to the de-censored documents, 2020’s PlayStation 4 swansong The Last of Us Part II cost $220 Million to develop with around 200 employees.

The more recently-released Horizon Forbidden West meanwhile took more than 300 developers over the course of 5 years to create, totalling a budget of $212 Million.

Back in 2021, ex-CEO of Sony Interactive Entertainment Worldwide Studios, Shawn Layden claimed that AAA PS5 games would begin to cost around $200 Million to develop. These latest documents seem to corroborate this fact.

Fortunately for Sony, their big first-party games seem to do just fine sales-wise, with TLOU Part II more than making its money back within the game’s first 3 days on sale.

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KitGuru says: What do you think of the ongoing FTC hearings? Are you surprised by these figures? Let us know down below.

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