They don't have to cost that much, but when you are simulating a person that can use a bow and fire arms, combined with platforming, puzzle solving, in a wide variety of environments you don't see a low budget game. 

If you use 8 bit graphics like minecraft you don't end up there.  That is true...

Uncharted 1 was about $100,000,000 but Uncharted 2 was about $20,000,000 because the core engine was the same...  It costs big money to build these types of game engines because they are extremely complex inside.  People complain about sequels but this is how investors make their money in thegames industry.  The first one "hopefully" breaks even, and subsequent sequels give the the return they are looking for.

What the hell?

25% yearly is considered a damn good return on investment and equity both. I'm not sure you know what you are talking about. Unless I'm thinking a different thing and a different timespan, which I consider unlikely, since you mentioned RoI yourself.

In a way, anything breaking even,  above inflation and national interest, can be considered a good investment.

If the market worked solely on multiples every company would have to be Apple at the bare minimum to sustain these standards. Not to mention GDP would be doubling in the span of a few dozen months... China would look like a small fry next to that.

P.S. while I acknowledge there are some investments who return on the multiples, they are extremely rare. If one could reasonably predict which exactly are those, there would be dozens of Rockfellers by now.

Uncharted 1 really cost that much?? Well, if this is the case (that the first game costs so much due to creating engines and whatnot) then I understand why it took a while for the game to turn a profit, and why there's so many sequals. But it also high lights what's messed up with the industry.

And yes, I agree, that most gamers would like to see both the high end AAA games, and the smaller, innovative indie games. But I for one would also like to see the mid tier games return, combining both of these game types.

He hasn't replied yet so i'm going to butt in :P

Like Nem i tend to hold off on buying consoles for a bit, but i was given a PS4 for my birthday and while i'm enjoying it a lot, if you already own a PS3 or 360 i don't think either the PS4 or X1 can justify their cost quite yet. Even if you enjoyed every exclusive both have to offer, there really isn't all that much to do yet, extra so for the X1 if you already own a 360 or decent PC.

All that in mind, if you have the money to spare or were planning on buying a PS4 before the end of the year, go for it. By then it should be well worth the cost, and seeing as the PS4 is unlikely to get a significant price cut for a while (based on it's current sales), might as well go for it if you did plan on that :)