A Life Of Crime Ain’t Cheap

We can all agree Grand Theft Auto IV was a great game. Interesting characters, a detailed world to explore, and a kick-ass soundtrack to accompany our explorations. But you know what? Quality costs money. How much do you ask? Enough to make GTA IV the most expensive video game in history. It cost Rockstar $100 million to make this game.

So what were the major costs to this game? There’s the people required to create the game. Almost 1,000 people slaved over this creation for three and a half years. They even recorded city traffic to reference in the game. Probably the largest cost was the music. Each song’s master was recorded for around $10,000–and that doesn’t include the royalty or licensing fees. Driving around causing mayhem while rocking out to Pony by Teenager ain’t cheap.

Here are the other “cheaper” games.

10: Killzone 2 – $45 million
9: Final Fantasy XII – $48 million
8: LA Noire – $50 million
7: APB – $50 million
6: Halo 3 – $55 million
5: Metal Gear Solid 4 – $60 million
4: Too Human, $60+ million
3: Shenmue – $70 million
2: Gran Turismo 5 – $80 million

[via Digital Spy]