America's Army cost US taxpayers $33 million

The free-to-play online shooter and recruitment / propaganda tool America's Army has cost US taxpayers a staggering $33 million USD to develop and release, it was revealed today.

The budget for the game, which was developed to help engage with young people, was uncovered after a Freedom of Information Act request made by GameSpot.

While the game was originally planned to cost $7 million across a five year development and release period, costs soon ballooned as the title became more popular. Expansion packs and updates followed and a new game in the series, America's Army 3, was released earlier this year to a lukewarm response.

Retail versions of the game have also been released by Ubisoft on consoles - America's Army: Rise of a Soldier for the PS2 and original Xbox, followed by the more recent America's Army: True Soldiers on the Xbox 360.

You can check out a breakdown of the year-by-year budget below, but most interesting of all is the fact that the US Army appears keen to continue operating within the games industry. A denied request for further information was met with the response that "disclosure of this information is likely to cause substantial harm to the Department of the Army's competitive position in the gaming industry".

America's Army Year-by-Year budget
2000--$3,500,000
2001--$5,600,000
2002--$1,862,985
2003--$2,600,000
2004--$3,866,482
2005--$1,288,552
2006--$4,050,748
2007--$2,788,137
2008--$3,887,450
2009--$3,395,702

Let us know your thoughts in the forums.