In light of Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot's revelation that video game budgets in the next generation could skyrocket to $60 million IndustryGamers decided to take a quick look at some other games that have zapped game makers' pockets. With games today already costing $15-$30 million on average, it's difficult to survive any missteps. Making a video game has become a massive investment (and risk) and one bomb could practically ruin a developer. If the next round of hardware actually does require investments of $60 million per title, we'd be concerned about the future of this industry. $60 million budgets is not very sustainable and clearly points to the need for new business models. Thankfully, with digital distribution taking hold we don't believe game makers will necessarily have to make such massive investments to actually be successful in the games business.
Here are some big bets on past games that did and didn't work out.