The Callisto Protocol, despite polarizing reception of its gameplay, is eye-catching in a big way and had a whole lot of hype behind it prior to its release. Making it was very costly, but unfortunately it has not met expected sales predictions.

According to sources, the budget for The Callisto Protocol was colossal, with a price tag of 200 million won ($162 million). Not surprisingly, it was referred to as quadruple-A during its production, since it had an exceptionally high cost. The game’s high production costs are quite noteworthy considering it was a new game in a rather small gaming genre.

According to Samsung Securities, The Callisto Protocol could not meet its initial sales expectations, leading to Krafton investors reducing their estimations for the target stocks. Krafton had predicted that The Callisto Protocol would move five million copies, yet the current sales reach is only two million. Samsung Securities now views it as an arduous task for the game to reach its desired sales achievement.

The Callisto Protocol got a dubious reaction, likely due to it centering on single-player gameplay and having a short playing period. Additionally, the below standard sales likely annihilated Kraftons worth. To evaluate the target of sales, a title comparable to the Callisto Protocol, Resident Evil Village, was able to generate six million sales during the initial six months. As Capcom’s line of games has a very good image, and were met with acclaim, a five-million sales target for Striking Distances Callisto seemed extremely confident.

The Callisto Protocol is set to release on December 2, 2022, for Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5 and PC. On average, it has earned a score of around the high 60s on Metacritic. Andrew King, our Features Editor, gave it a 2.5 out of 5 rating in his review of the game. He noted that it was repetitive and monotonous, its characters were flat and the story lacked spark. However, he did praise the top-notch lighting effects and enthralling combat.

The price tag for games at the highest level of production is getting more and more pricey. According to a Game Developer write-up that was written about last month, $162 million for The Callisto Protocol likely impressed a lot of people as it was an atypical investment for a game from an up and coming creator. However, other titles have cost more than that, with CD Projekt Red’s Cyberpunk 2077 spending $174 million.

Development expenditures of at least $150 million are now seeing no special attention in stakes of triple-A game growth, in accordance to Omdia video game tech specialist Liam Deane. He credited the swelling charges to the additional output needed by the advanced machines and the rising workforce needed to build larger and more complete video game universes that can make use of the technical upgrades.

The heightened expenditure results in creators and publishers taking bigger risks investing in the creation of a title. This can be seen in Ubisoft’s recent confirmation of cost-reduction plans and the cancellation of three unannounced projects as well as other tactical shifts. Developing a video game is a huge undertaking and, as The Callisto Protocol reveals, it can be a great danger.