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In an era where blockbuster open world games cost unfathomable sums of money to make, Ghost of Yotei looks like it’ll be a profitable endeavour for developer Sucker Punch.
Speaking in an interview with GameFile (paywalled), boss Brian Fleming explained that the sequel had a similar development budget to its predecessor. We know Ghost of Tsushima cost around $60 million to make, so it’s fair to assume its follow-up is in the same ballpark.
While this is still a lot of money, it means Sucker Punch should have no trouble making its investment back.
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We know as of September 2024 that Jin Sakai’s outing had sold around 13 million units and banked Sony a cool $400 million in revenue. Even if Yotei doesn’t perform at quite the same level, its higher launch day selling price should put it on a similar trajectory.
Of course, other costs do need to be considered on top of the $60 million; Sony will likely spend an enormous sum on marketing the game. But this isn’t a project that’s going to make or break the studio.
It’s actually rather refreshing to see a tentpole first-party title like this with a reasonable development budget attached to it.
It just goes to show that it is possible to keep costs manageable, and we struggle to see a scenario in which the game doesn’t post a tidy profit once all’s said and done.
[source gamefile.news, via tech4gamers.com, resetera.com]
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As the Editor of Push Square, Sammy has over 15 years of experience analysing the world of PlayStation, from PS3 through PS5 and everything in between. He’s an expert on PS Studios and industry matters, as well as sports games and simulators. He also enjoys RPGs when he has the time to dedicate to them, and is a bit of a gacha whale.