Insider Kiwitalkz refuted the previously circulating claim that "Resident Evil 9" had a budget of $60-70 million, stating that according to his sources, the actual cost of Resident Evil 9 is close to $200 million.
"For a while, there was a persistent misconception that RE9's budget was between $60 million and $70 million. This is completely wrong; the actual figure is closer to $200 million, which I have confirmed through multiple sources in Japan.
If you apply a bit of logic, it's easy to see how absurd the $60 million figure is. If a much smaller game with a significantly shorter development cycle like Astro Bot costs around $70 million, how could a game like RE9, which involved over 1,000 people and had a much longer development period, possibly cost only $60 million?
Haha. Complete nonsense.
Another point is that in Japan, many publishers commonly use "invisible studios"—teams that contribute to game development but receive no credit—which further complicates the credits for RE9. While game development costs in Japan are significantly lower than in the US, they aren't so low that a game like RE9 could be made for just $60 million."
Later, when answering questions from users, Kiwitalkz speculated that if developed in California, USA, the development cost of Resident Evil 9 would be between $400 million and $500 million.
"The biggest advantage the US has is its talent pool, which is abundant (though I believe this will change within the next 5 to 10 years). However, expertise in other parts of the world is catching up to the US, making outsourcing increasingly common. This may sound somewhat pessimistic, but in the near future, US talent will become optional, as talent elsewhere has reached comparable skill levels at a much lower cost."