Sony Accidentally Reveals Horizon Forbidden West Budget

If you’re even remotely into video games, then you know all about the Microsoft acquisition of Activision Blizzard and its hold-up with the Federal Trade Commission in the United States. Fans and onlookers have followed the testimonies closely and every day seems to bring new surprises. One of the more shocking developments was a poorly redacted Sony document that shared budgets for top games like The Last of Us: Part 2 and Horizon Forbidden West. Here’s what we learned about the cost of making Sony Interactive Entertainment’s top titles.

The ongoing FTC hearings are a can’t-miss for fans curious about whether or not Activision Blizzard will end up as a Microsoft property. A mind-blowing moment for legal experts and gaming fans alike included a document redacted with a black Sharpie that wasn’t actually redacted. If you look at the blacked-out numbers closely you can actually read them. We learn from this document something we don’t always learn from game developers: the cost of making a big-budget game.

Sony did great job on the document redactions… not 🙃 https://t.co/aPQgk9JU8L pic.twitter.com/5rJQbZbbd0

— Tom Warren (@tomwarren) June 28, 2023

In the document, we can see that it took $220 million to develop The Last of Us: Part 2 and $212 million for Horizon Forbidden West. It makes sense considering the scale of these Sony titles that they’d cost a lot, but developers and publishers tend to keep this info private to protect against sales numbers seeming lackluster or underwhelming. Not only are these games expensive, but they are also time-consuming to make.

For example, the document says that 2022’s Horizon Forbidden West technically began development in 2018. As games get more expensive to make and take more time, the wait times for our favorite games will continue to increase. If any other bombshells come out of the FTC Xbox hearings, we’ll be sure to keep you updated here at Phenixx Gaming.