Andy Gavin, who co-founded Naughty Dog with Jason Rubin in 1986, is a surprisingly prolific LinkedIn poster who recently shared memories of the company’s early days. This week he published a post about the state of the studio’s finances over the yearsdescribing how much it cost to make some of Naughty Dog’s early games and how these ever-increasing numbers led studio executives to agree to a takeover by Sony in 2000.
“Our early 1980s games cost just under $50,000 to produce,” Gavin wrote. “Rings of Power (’88-91) the budget increased to about $100,000, but in 1992 it produced slightly more after-tax profits. In 1993 we transferred the 100,000 dollars from Rings in self-financing The way of the warrior. But Crash Bandicoot (’94-96) cost $1.6 million. Before we arrived As well as Daxter (’99-01) the budget exceeded the $15 million mark. By 2004, the cost of AAA games such as Like 3 it grew to $45-50 million and has continued to grow since then.”
Gavin’s post sparked discussion in the comments, including from other people working in the gaming industry. James Marcus, senior artist working on Splitgate 2 for 1047 Games replied: “It’s sad that the costs have increased so much. This has created a space where far too many developers take less creative risks or sell out to large corporations to avoid bankruptcy from a possible failed product.”
There are, of course, potential downsides to huge companies like Sony taking over studios. Namely, restructuring and layoffs (Naughty Dog was also impacted by Sony’s round of cuts in 2024). For Firewalk Studios, the studio that created Agreementbeing acquired by Sony in 2023 didn’t seem to aid the future of the game or the studio in any way. Ultimately, the studio in question was unceremoniously closed down shortly thereafter Agreement fired. So we have some confusion when it comes to the Sony acquisition. However, the rising costs of AAA video games are an undeniable reality.
