Genshin Impact ranks as the “most expensive” video game ever developed, but this may change soon.
Genshin Impact is a free-to-play action role-playing gacha game developed by miHoYo and published worldwide by HoYoverse. It was released on September 28, 2020, and is one of the most popular games today.
Based on SensorTower data, Genshin Impact has always been in the top 5 on the sales revenue chart for Android and iOS. This is possibly due to the many elements that attracted its playerbase, such as the character designs, events, and more.
It may not be surprising that Genshin Impact is leading the list of the most expensive games ever developed, having a budget of 700 million US dollars and possibly more
This figure was revealed in the lawsuit filed by HoYoverse and Cognosphere against Taiga and other Genshin Impact hackers, stated to be in the same group as Taiga by the HoYoverse, last November 28, 2023.
A section of the lawsuit stated: “The success of Genshin Impact is the result of substantial creative and financial investment in product and game development, intellectual property, marketing, and community development by HoYoverse and miHoYo.”
This then revealed the budget allocation of the game: “Genshin Impact had an initial development budget of around $100 million USD as well as around $200 million USD annually for development of updates, expansions, and patches.”
With the value of the game uncovered, HoYoverse stated: “This makes Genshin Impact one of the most expensive games ever developed.”
While Genshin Impact may be the most expensive game ever developed with a confirmed official budget allocation, it may soon be dethroned by the upcoming Grand Theft Auto VI, currently in development.
An article by The Economic Times stated that reports revealed that the upcoming Grand Theft Auto VI’s production cost will reach billions of US dollars. There are rumors that GTA VI would be the most expensive video game to be made, with costs between $1 billion to $2 billion.