Rumors have persisted for years that the 2013 Deadpool game somehow cost publisher Activision over $100 million to develop and market. That's not an unheard-of number for the development of a major video game, but it's way out of scope for what you would expect from a licensed title of the era, and one of the game's original developers is trying to put the rumors to rest once and for all.
"My challenge to game journalists, just in time for Deadpool and Wolverine: Squash the insane rumor that the Deadpool game cost $100 million," Chris Baker, manager of licensed games for Marvel at the time of Deadpool's release, says on Twitter. (Challenge accepted, by the way.) "It's crazy how many people are out there all 'how could this possibly have cost so much?!'...when it obviously didn't. Not even close."
My challenge to game journalists, just in time for Deadpool and Wolverine: Squash the insane rumor that the Deadpool game cost $100 million.It's crazy how many people are out there all "how could this possibly have cost so much?!"...when it obviously didn't. Not even close. pic.twitter.com/gvxynBH2fEJuly 22, 2024
In the thread that follows, Baker tries to track down the source of the claims about Deadpool's budget, but, well… there doesn't really seem to be a source. Instead, there are just a bunch of listicles and YouTube videos repeating the claim that the game cost $100 million to make, but none of them actually point to the origin of that idea.
As the folks at Time Extension note, the closest thing to an origin for that budget estimate seems to be a joke within the game, where Deadpool himself suggests the game is going over-budget with an increasingly ridiculous money counter - but that counter stops around $7.5 million.
"I wasn't privy to the actual budget," Baker says in a follow-up tweet, "but $100 million is GTA-level money, at least back then." And, in fact, the then (relatively) recent Grand Theft Auto 4 was estimated to have cost $100 million - an estimate provided by the game's own producer.
While Marvel games like Insomniac's Spider-Man titles are among the biggest, most lavishly produced AAA games out there today, the scene for superhero games was quite a bit different in 2013. Deadpool launched to mediocre reviews, and while fans of the character have given it something of a cult classic reputation, it was never a notable standout in the sea of mid-budget licensed action games that were coming out at the time.
In fact, the Deadpool game's greatest notoriety likely comes from just how hard it is to get ahold of these days. The original PS3 and Xbox 360 versions were delisted just a year after launch, and while the game got an updated re-release in 2015 for PS4 and Xbox One, those versions were also delisted two years later. There are plenty of physical copies all over eBay, but the PS4 version in particular is starting to command a substantial premium, with complete copies selling for well over $100. With prices having taken a particularly dramatic spike over the past few months, it seems the Deadpool and Wolverine hype has gamers feeling nostalgic.
There are a lot of upcoming Marvel games to keep track of, and given the pedigree of the AAA studios making them several of these titles could certainly top $100 million in development costs.
