Companies have complained about the ballooning costs of video game development in recent years. And, while the massive budgets of AAA titles are no secret, it's still interesting to hear about the concerning amounts of money these companies spend to keep us gamers entertained for hours on end.
Case in point, Sony apparently asking Insomniac Games' to cut costs and layoff staff despite releasing a best-selling title every year for the better half of the past decade.
Insomniac, which Sony acquired a few years back, has been a workhorse for the company, alternating Marvel's Spider-Man games with a new Ratchet & Clank title with plans to add X-Men to the mix going forward. Thus, it's surprising to hear that Sony wants one of its marquee studios to spend less money when creating all-time experiences.
According to the leaked slides from the still-unaddressed data breach, Marvel's Spider-Man 2 exceeded its initial budget of $300 million by $30 million. To break even, the game needed to sell 7.2 million copies at full price, a target that's well within reach given the title's popularity. In spite of the game having potentially surpassed its breakeven point by now - it's the fastest-selling PlayStation exclusive at launch and the PlayStation 5 recently celebrated its 50-million milestone - the problem remains. The growing concern, which Phil Spencer, the head of Xbox, highlighted earlier this year, brings to the forefront the unsustainable nature of AAA development.