Lords of the Fallen was CI Games' most expensive project at $66m
Million-selling game's development, excluding engine license fees, cost $41.9 million
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Polish developer CI Games has revealed that its latest hit, Lords of the Fallen, was its most expensive project to date with total costs of PLN 281 million ($66.2 million).
The figure was shared during an investor call, as reported by Polish site Bankier and spotted by Game World Observer. Total development costs were came in at PLN 178 million ($41.9 million), although this does not include licensing fees paid to Epic Games for the use of its Unreal Engine.
CI Games also shared that PLN 81.5 million ($19.2 million) was spent on marketing, with an additional PLN 21.5 million ($5.1 million) dedicated to producing the physical edition.
The investment seems to have paid off, with the rebooted Lords of the Fallen selling more than one million copies within ten days. By comparison, Game World Observer noted the 2014 original sold 900,000 in its first seven months.
CI Games promised a further sales update in November. Management suggested the game is likely to be boosted by both Black Friday and the pre-Christmas shopping periods.
Studio president Marek Tymiński also acknowledged technical issues, especially with the PC version, and assured that the game's developers are working on improvements and updates.
It's interesting to see CI Games increasing its budgets. Back in 2017, the studio aimed to establish itself in the AAA space with Sniper Ghost Warrior 3, but Tymiński later told GamesIndustry.biz the game struggled to meet the company's expectations.
CI Games downsized the scope of its games with 2019's Sniper Ghost Warrior Contracts and its 2021 sequel. In an interview with GamesIndustry.biz, Tymiński discussed the rising budgets for AAA game production and how difficult it is to compete in this space.
"The level of expectations people have today from full price games is very high and you really need to have large budget to even have a chance," he told us.
While $66 million may represent the most expensive CI Games title so far, it's a far cry from the amount spent on production at the high-end of AAA development.
Earlier this year, poorly redacted court documents revealed that Sony spent more than $200 million on both The Last of Us Part 2 and Horizon Forbidden West.