Due to its quality, Arcane has a huge budget, showrunners say

Key things

Arcane is said to be the most expensive animated show ever made, with a budget of $250 million dedicated to production and promotion.
In a new interview, showrunners Arcane defended the show's reported high budget due to the use of high-quality talent.
While not directly confirming the news, the showrunners hinted at the need for a high budget to realize their vision.

It's no secret that television and movies, like video games, have seen increased production costs. However, it was still shocking to many that Netflix's Arcane is said to be the most expensive animated show ever made.

Arcane actually ran Riot Games for $250 million, entertainment website Variety reports. Of that amount, $80 million was dedicated to Season 1, and another $100 million was put into Season 2. That's not to mention the $60 million given away for promotional purposes. In other words, an animated League of Legends spin-off doesn't come cheap.

Now, days after the initial report, Arcane showrunners are speaking out in defense of the show's big budget.

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There are costs associated with quality

In an interview with GamesRadar, showrunner Christian Linke confirmed that the reported $250 million budget was incorrect, although he did not specify how much the show actually ran.

“First of all, the number is not quite right,” Linke said. “That figure includes marketing costs associated with the release, which are not part of Arcane's budget.” Still, it's safe to assume that at least part of the $250 million, specifically the production aspects, is at least somewhat on track.

Regardless, Linke and his colleagues quickly defended their work on Arcane. “Arcane is a really expensive animated series – that was the point,” he added. “Our dream was to create an animated series that was true to what you see in the animated films.”

Alex Lee, another showrunner, also described the cost of hiring incredible talent such as voice actors and artists to help bring the show to life. “You have the voice actors, where we really tried to find great talent,” Lee said. “You have artists that we wanted to have the time to really touch them and have so many different disciplines to do their best. In a lot of ways, the money is just a reflection of the amount of effort that went into it.”

Considering how popular and well-received Arcane was, the budget seems to have largely paid off. Still, it's worth discussing how the show managed to become more than some well-known animated projects. And it's certainly worth asking what the final cost would have been had the show reached its original intended length.