Games
How Much Does Game Development Cost?
A comprehensive guide to game development pricing in 2026; by genre, platform, team size, and feature complexity. Based on 20+ years of production experience.
The Short Answer
Game development costs range from £8,000 for a simple casual mobile game to £500,000+ for a full-scale MMO with multiplayer infrastructure. Most mid-range indie games fall between £40,000 and £150,000.
The wide range exists because “a game” can mean anything from a simple tap-to-play mobile title to a persistent online world with thousands of concurrent players. The sections below break down exactly what drives those numbers.
Cost by Game Genre
Genre is the single biggest determinant of cost. These ranges assume a mobile-first build with a team of 3–5 developers over 6 months.
Casual / Hyper-Casual
£8,000 – £25,000
Simple mechanics, minimal art assets, short development cycles. Think tap-to-play, endless runners, or match-3 games.
Examples: Flappy Bird clones, idle games, simple puzzle games
Puzzle / Card Game
£15,000 – £50,000
More complex logic, progression systems, and polished UI. Often requires backend for leaderboards or multiplayer.
Examples: Word games, card battlers, brain training apps
Action / Adventure
£40,000 – £150,000
Custom art, animation, level design, and often physics-based mechanics. Requires significant engineering and content production.
Examples: Platformers, shooters, hack-and-slash games
RPG / Strategy
£60,000 – £250,000
Deep systems design: inventory, skill trees, AI opponents, progression, and narrative content. Large content volume drives costs.
Examples: Turn-based RPGs, 4X strategy, tower defence
MMO / Multiplayer
£100,000 – £500,000+
Server architecture, real-time networking, anti-cheat, persistent worlds, and live operations infrastructure. The most technically demanding category.
Examples: MMORPGs, battle royale, competitive multiplayer
Cost by Platform
Platform choice applies a multiplier to the base genre cost. Mobile is the baseline (1.0×).
Mobile (iOS / Android)
1.0×The baseline. Optimisation for diverse hardware, touch UI, and app store guidelines are the main considerations.
PC / Desktop
1.15×Higher resolution assets, keyboard/mouse input, and Steam/Epic store integration add 15% to the base cost.
Console (PS / Xbox / Switch)
1.3×Devkit costs, platform certification (TRC/XR), controller input, and platform-specific optimisation add 30%.
Cross-Platform
1.6×Supporting multiple platforms simultaneously requires abstraction layers, per-platform QA, and cross-play networking. Adds 60%.
What Drives Cost Up
Features compound. Adding multiplayer, monetisation, and live ops together is more impactful than the sum of their individual multipliers.
Multiplayer Networking
+25%Real-time networking, matchmaking, server infrastructure, and anti-cheat systems. The single largest feature cost driver.
Live Ops / Live-Service
+20%Seasonal content, remote configuration, event systems, and ongoing server costs post-launch.
Procedural Generation
+15%Algorithmic content creation (maps, levels, items) reduces art costs but adds significant engineering complexity.
Localization (i18n)
+12%Translation, right-to-left layout support, cultural adaptation, and region-specific content.
AI / Pathfinding
+12%Enemy behaviour, NPC decision-making, navigation meshes, and difficulty scaling systems.
Monetisation / IAP
+10%In-app purchase flows, virtual economy design, ad mediation, and revenue analytics dashboards.
Custom UI / UX Design
+8%Bespoke interface design beyond standard UI kits. Particularly impactful on mobile where screen real estate is limited.
Analytics Integration
+5%Event tracking, funnel analysis, A/B testing infrastructure, and custom dashboards for game metrics.
Team Size & Timeline
Team Size
A solo developer or two-person team (0.7× multiplier) produces lower raw output but has minimal coordination overhead. A 3–5 person team (1.0× baseline) is the sweet spot for most indie and mid-range projects. Teams of 6–10 (1.5×) are needed for ambitious projects but coordination costs rise significantly.
Larger teams don't just add linear cost, they add communication overhead. The number of communication channels grows quadratically with team size. A 3-person team has 3 channels; a 10-person team has 45.
Timeline
Shorter timelines cost more per month because they require larger teams. A 3-month rush (1.3× multiplier) needs parallel workstreams and heavy coordination. A 12-month timeline (0.9×) allows sequential work with a smaller team, reducing total cost. An 18+ month project (0.85×) has the lowest per-month rate but the longest commitment.
The cheapest path is rarely the fastest one. For most projects, a 6–12 month timeline with a focused team of 3–5 delivers the best balance of cost, speed, and quality.
How to Reduce Costs Without Cutting Corners
Start with an MVP
Build the core loop first and validate it with players before investing in full production. A playable prototype costs 10-20% of the full game and tells you whether the concept works.
Use a Co-Development Partner
A co-dev studio scales with your project, you pay for capacity when you need it, not when you don't. No recruitment costs, no bench time between projects.
Leverage Existing Frameworks
Reusable systems for UI, analytics, monetisation, and networking save weeks of engineering per project. At OVG, we maintain reusable Unity modules across our portfolio.
Scope Ruthlessly
Every feature has a cost. Cut the features that don't directly serve the core experience. A polished small game outperforms a bloated large one.
Choose the Right Art Style
A stylized or minimalist art direction can look excellent at a fraction of the cost of realistic 3D. Match the art style to your budget, not your aspirations.
Plan for One Platform First
Ship on one platform, validate product-market fit, then port. Cross-platform from day one adds 60% to costs, only justified if your business model requires simultaneous launch.
Get Your Estimate
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