Beyond: Two Souls cost £17m to develop

Quantic Dream’s upcoming PS3 title Beyond: Two Souls cost £17 million to make, according to a report by Le Figaro.

The studio was able to take advantage of France’s generous games and R&D tax breaks at up to 40 per cent to help it cut costs on the triple-A title.

Beyond Two Souls is an interactive, narrative driven action game starring Inception actress Ellen Page and Spider-man actor Willem Dafoe, due to be released on October 11th in Europe.

Last year tax incentives in France had been blocked after the original EU deal expired, but was reinstated last April. UK tax relief plans have also been put on hold by the European Commission while it examines if the UK game industry needs them to remain competitive.

Without tax breaks, Beyond: Two Souls’ true cost is likely higher and more in line with traditional development budgets for a large triple-A title.

A £17 million budget for the title is slightly more than the studio’s previous release, Heavy Rain, which cost around £14 million to create.

The budget is however a fraction of the reported cost for Rockstar’s Grand Theft Auto V.

The open-world title is thought to have had a development and marketing budget of £170 million, eclipsing the cost of Quantic Dream’s upcoming title by a factor of ten.

It is not known however how much of GTA V’s budget was set aside for marketing, and what similar costs will be for Beyond: Two Souls.

Despite the large layout, Rockstar’s blockbuster hit made its money back within three days after garnering $1 billion in sales.