Given that The Last of Us Part 2 has been confirmed to be bigger and more detailed than its predecessor, there has been much speculation over how much it cost to develop the Naughty Dog title. Although neither Sony nor Naughty Dog has confirmed any official numbers, it’s possible to infer the cost of production based on price comparisons with other games of a similar nature.

Since The Last Of Us 2 is much bigger than its original – and includes more advanced elements, like better graphics and gameplay mechanics – the title likely cost the developers much more to produce the second time around. For instance, in 2019, TLOU2 co-writer Halley Cross spoke about the expansiveness of the game. "The game I think we're saying is about 50% bigger, but it is massive, not just in length, but in like, all of our levels are bigger and wider, we have more cinematics, we have more characters, we have more animations,” she explained to Gamer Braves. “We have larger melee systems. In every way, the game is bigger and better."

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The fact that The Last Of Us 2 took a long time to develop also increases the production cost, as there were more people working on the title for longer periods of time than with the original. Whereas The Last of Us took roughly three years to be developed by Naughty Dog, The Last of Us Part 2 has been in the works for double that. It’s also suffered two major delays – once in 2016 and then again in 2020 – which also likely increased the game’s cost.

What The Last of Us 2's Budget Probably Was

Ellie in Last Of Us 2

Although the costs of big video game releases such as The Last of Us franchise are rarely spoken about publicly by the developers, it’s possible to estimate how much The Last of Us 2 cost to produce. Generally, video games of this caliber and size run into the hundreds of millions of dollars. According to EurogamerMetal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain cost roughly $80 million, and that game was only in development for roughly three years compared to The Last of Us Part 2's six. The longer a game takes to release, the more expensive it becomes.

It’s not far-fetched to assume that The Last of Us cost even more than this, given how detailed and large the game is. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt reportedly cost $46 million to develop, CD Projekt Red confirmed in 2015, but that's less than games of its scale usually do. Perhaps most revealing is the fact that both God of War known for its incredible environments and graphical quality – and Shadow of the Tomb Raider have been estimated to cost upwards of $100 million to produce. Considering that The Last of Us Part 2 is a first-party Sony title, just like God of War, it would be realistic to put its development budget estimates near $100 million, if not even higher, considering the amount of time and effort it took to produce TLOU2.

While it's hard to nail down an exact price, by looking at past trends and other similar titles it's likely that The Last of Us Part 2 cost Sony at least $100 million to make, if not even more.

NEXT: The Last of Us Part II Review: You've Never Played Anything Like This

Sources: Eurogamer, Gamer Braves/YouTube