What the developers go through? The devs are getting paid plenty of money and they are doing a job, just like any other. They don't deserve some special form of treatment. They create a product, then we buy it. That's where it ends. Just like when I buy a car or a book or a music CD or a DVD/BD movie. None of them get money from second hand sales, so what makes game devs (Or more accurately the publishers) so special? This also goes for your point about not happening in any other industry. That is simply not true. People read a book, then lend it to a friend or throw it up on eBay. People watch a DVD/BD, then the next day lend it to their friends or if they want, sell it. Some even just rent them. Some do neither and just take advantage of libraries for books, movies and games.

Just because The Witcher, Heavy Rain or Metro doesn't sell as well Mario or GTA while being just as good of quality does not automatically mean they deserve as much sales or as much money. They know this, which is why they work to a budget. They do a good job at it too. They know that every game doesn't sell as well as the other, so they start out with a small budget and see where things go and if all goes well they increase the budget next time. Why does The Witcher 2 cost 8.5M to make while similar games with much less graphical fidelity cost 2x as much if not more? It's called not allocating your resources properly and project takings too long to create. Why does Assassins Creed need 1,200 employees to create?

As for your TLoU point again, it circles back to what I said in the first paragraph of this post.

It is already proven that second hand sales are healthy for the industry. They help finance new game and someone who buys a game used on the cheap might become a fan and buy the next release. Anything that gets more of your product into consumers hands holds a better chance for the future of your product/franchise than a short term solution of "let's see how much we can possibly get on the initial new game sales and screw anyone who relies on cheaper alternatives" or a position of "What, can't afford the game new? Too bad and screw you. You can't play my game". I can assure you that no second market and no lending will not cause many franchises to grow.

There is a whole lot more proof out there that it helps than you could ever find to show that it hurts the industry.

So there is another industry that has brand new items being sold used within a week? lol No. Which answers your first and 2nd paragraph of text.

And no again lol  You can still resell your games.  Trhat money goes back into games.  You just dont buy brand new games as used anymore.  I already pointed this out the first time i said anything and I asked you also to not reply as you already have your mind made up.

The same people saying they should just lower budgets for game production will be the people lining up for GTAV.

Agreed. Personally, i don't want us consumers to have to compromise. But rather than price, I rather not have developers compromise on imrpoving quality. If all you people arw not just talking out of your @$$, then I think that publishers should really start segregating the market. I don't want my AAA experiences to take a hit. I love playing games such as Uncharted, Last of Us, Bioshock Infinite, and their increasing production quality. If you guys are really okay with your lower budget games, then I hope they make a market for you also. I dont want our differing opinions to have to ruin the industry....however, i doubt you guys really know what you are asking  for.

You are missing the point of the article.

You have plenty of games with the same or higher production values that don't cost $40,$50 or even $60M+ to create. Many of them, like Uncharted are made with budgets ~$20M. The Witcher 1 & 2 created with budgets under $10M. Lower cost =/= lesser quality title.

High production values can be achieved if devs and publishers put in the effort to find ways to lower cost rather than just allowing it to escalate and expecting the consumers to cover the rising cost.

Fact is that much of these issues are not due to second hand sales or people lending out their games more so than these companies mismanaging.

Don't be shocked if we find out TLoU cost less than $30M.

Indeed a very good point.  Perhaps used games are the problem after all? :P

But it never seemed to be a problem in the past - games of all prices managed to sell alright.  

Hell, the Simple 2000 series was a dedicated series of low-budget Japanese stuff that still saw physical releases and was (mostly) localised in Europe - I'm guessing mostly selling minimal copies but clearly enough to keep Midas Interactive afloat.  I suppose they're definitely the lower end of "the middle" but there was a place for these games in the sixth gen that just doesn't exist anymore.

I guess it comes down to the lowered sense of game pricing coming from things like the App Store which has partly contributed to this.  And development costs shooting up with HD development couldn't have helped too (although again, Compile Heart help to prove a point there about how that doesn't necessarily mean that sales-needed-to-break-even should shoot skyward).

I just wonder if this isn't mostly because of the cost of AAA games shooting up.  In the sixth gen, the gap didn't seem so big.  I always felt in the sixth gen that even though you could have two different series which probably had vastly different budgets (say, Halo 2 vs. Timesplitters 2) they could still both be sold at full price and people would buy them (obviously Halo sold far more, but Timesplitters sold "enough").  It doesn't feel like a similar comparison could be made these days, really.  Everything shoots to be the next CoD or Halo, there's no ground for something lesser.  Unless it's an indie release like Nexuiz or something, I suppose.

So effectively, by throwing so much money at AAA releases they've effectively destroyed the middle because you either go big or go home.  Which I just find a massive shame.  Sure, I love AAA titles and equally there's loads of lesser stuff that isn't great.  But there were plenty of gems of middle-sized franchises too that just can't sustain themselves anymore, and it just sucks because many of those were games I loved.  Ah well.

Horrible article. The same people saying this guy is right are the same people buying Grand Threft Auto, The Last of Us, Uncharted, Halo, Beyond, etc These games are expensive. Lot of workers, costly engines, actors, voice actors, etc Show a little respect instead of whining all the time. Apparently because you can name two games that gets away with a AAA budget does not make you right. Throw in nintendo because they can get away with it too, but other developers focus on AAA because AA and class C games dont sell well.  Stop acting like developers/publishers owe you something.