Game Development Cost Estimator
How much does it cost to make a game? Pick your genre, platform, art style and features to see a live cost and timeline, what drives them and where you could save. Then download it as a PDF or share the link with your team.
Your estimate
£29,000
Range £20,000 to £41,000
Indie scaleTypical of a polished indie or mobile release
Where the budget goes
- Development & Engineering 65%
- £13,000 to £26,000
- Art & Design 17%
- £3,500 to £7,000
- QA & Testing 9%
- £2,000 to £3,500
- Project Management 9%
- £2,000 to £4,000
Where the time goes
- Pre-Production 18%
- 1 to 2 weeks
- Prototyping 9%
- 1 week
- Production 45%
- 2 to 5 weeks
- Polish and QA 18%
- 1 to 2 weeks
- Launch Prep 9%
- 0 to 1 weeks
Biggest cost drivers
- Medium+20%
Ways to save
Similar to our work onNub RemakeFor Inferna GamesTurn this estimate into a costed proposal
Send us this estimate. We will book a free discovery call and turn it into a costed proposal for your project.
Save and share
Applying for funding? We write the costed outline and letter of support for your bid at no charge. See grant-funded projects
Recommended for your project
Based on what you have selected, these are the services that usually come next.
Prototype first
A playable prototype tests the core loop and gives investors something to hold.
Game design document
Lock down mechanics, economy and scope in writing, so every quote is like for like.
App store launch
Store listings, submission and review handled, so launch day is not your first attempt.
How We Calculate
Market-Based Costs
Base costs per genre combine typical team composition and production time from our shipped projects with UK contract market day rates (IT Jobs Watch) and UK earnings data (Office for National Statistics Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings). Industry context comes from TIGA research. Figures are reviewed quarterly. Last updated: October 2026.
Compounding Multipliers
Nine dimensions (platform, genre, art style, content volume, team size, audio, backend, starting point, and features) each apply a multiplier to the genre's base days of work. Features compound multiplicatively, producing a realistic combined uplift rather than a simple sum. Online multiplayer always adds at least £5,000, however small the rest of the game. Choose a port as your starting point and it is priced with the same engine as our porting cost estimator, so the two tools always agree. Open "How this is calculated" beside your estimate to see every multiplier applied to your base range.
Cost and Timeline Together
The estimate is days of work, each discipline costed at its own rate: £500/day for engineering, £350/day for art, £400/day for design and production and £250/day for QA. The same days shared across your team are the timeline, so the tool shows how long the build takes as well as what it costs. A bigger team finishes sooner but costs more in total, because coordination takes a growing share of everyone's time. Console releases add certification weeks to the timeline but not to the cost.
Dynamic Budget Breakdown
The total is split across Development, Art & Design, QA, and Project Management. Percentages adjust dynamically based on your selections. Art-heavy projects shift budget towards design; engineering-heavy builds with complex backends shift it towards development; larger teams increase the project management allocation.
Our Services
Turn your estimate into reality. We offer end-to-end game development services.
Unity Game Development
Full-cycle Unity development from prototype to launch.
Research & Grant-Funded Projects
Applying for funding? Send us your grant budget and we write the costed outline and letter of support for your bid.
Mobile Game Development
Considering a mobile build or port? See our iOS and Android service for new builds, porting, and performance work.
Game Design
Core loop design, economy balancing, and GDD creation.
Game Monetisation
In-app purchases, ad integration, and live-service infrastructure.
Co-Development
Embed our senior engineers directly in your team.
Related Resources
Game Development Cost Guide
Detailed breakdown of costs by genre, platform, and production category.
Game Development Timeline Estimator
The same estimator with the timeline shown first, phase by phase.
Porting Cost Estimator
Already have a game? Price a port to mobile, PC or console, with the platform work broken down line by line.
Embed This Estimator
Add the estimator to your own site, course page or studio blog. Paste this code where you want it to appear.
<iframe id="ovg-cost-estimator" src="https://oceanviewgames.co.uk/embed/game-development-cost-estimator" title="Game development cost estimator" width="100%" height="1600" style="border:0;max-width:1200px" loading="lazy"></iframe>
<p><a href="https://oceanviewgames.co.uk/resources/game-development-cost-estimator">Game development cost estimator</a> by Ocean View Games</p>
<script>addEventListener("message",function(e){if(e.origin==="https://oceanviewgames.co.uk"&&e.data&&e.data.ovgEmbedHeight){document.getElementById("ovg-cost-estimator").style.height=e.data.ovgEmbedHeight+"px"}})</script>Free to use on any site. Please keep the credit link.
Frequently Asked Questions
- Game complexity and genre - a casual mobile game from a two-person team comes to £20,000 to £41,000, and an MMO with the same answers to £325,000 to £655,000.
- Art style - the same casual game comes to £16,000 to £33,000 in pixel art and £40,000 to £80,000 in realistic 3D.
- Content volume - as a prototype it comes to £8,500 to £17,000, and with very large content (20+ hours or endless) to £30,000 to £61,000.
- Team size - larger teams deliver faster but cost more due to coordination overhead.
- Starting point - porting or building on an existing codebase is significantly cheaper than starting from scratch.