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Train wreck on 15 April 2013
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happydolphin said:
Train wreck said:

The cost of AAA games have not become unsustainanble because many of these games acheieve the sales numbers they set out to get (most are internal and we never get them but you dont see a majority of companies complaining).  Also where are the companies getting the money to have such massive budgets?  I guess its from their AAA games selling alot.

I think the numbers that Square Enix were pumping out were amaturish at best, not knowing the western market at all and relying on Metacritic data to gague sales.  The same with Capcom and Resident Evil 6, they overestimated the game substanatially failing to realize they moved the game into a direction that the majority of its buyers did not want to go. THQ the same with Darkstriders, they gave that game a AAA budget when it was a single A game at best.  You dont see amature hour mistakes with Sony or Microsoft with Uncharted and Halo, Activision or Ubisoft...and when you do, they cut tail as soon as possible and regroup (activision is the top example)

@bold. I wouldn't jump to that conclusion, even your prior post mentioned the importance of other revenue streams such as casual games.

Also, take a look at the link Osed provided. 3 typical games requiring 3 to 5 million copies sold to break even.

That's one part of it. Then, there are like you pointed out cases of failed ventures where the market research wasn't properly done and expectations were misplaced, that just compounds to the issue.

I'm not sure that's a super positive outlook.

I think typical AAA games take 3 to 5 million to break even because this gen produced some 250 million odd home consoles (not including increased PC sales).  I think its not that hard of a target to project when so many consoles are out there, even this late in the gen.  Dark Souls shipped over 2 million, im sure for Dark Souls 2, namco is looking at a number probably twice that.

The problem comes in that you have to release a game that deserves AAA quality, not just an AAA budget.  I think that is where the disconnect is happening.