The thing is, AAA budgets are high because AAA devs (and publishers) are simply incapable of saving money. The amount of useless shit they waste money on is astonishing. They've got marketing budgets that are through the rough, wasting money on things like gigantic hollywood parties for the developers and gaming media when in fact that money could have been put to better use by saving it. Eidos Montreal actually had a leather suit made especially just to see how the light reflects on it so they can 100% accurately mimic the way light reflects off leather armor. The kicker is that you don't even get to see Garret's armor for 95% of the game. The amount of money wasted in AAA development is enormous.
Jim Sterling actually wrote a really great response to CliffyB on this matter. It's well worth a read to get an insight into how much money is wasted in AAA development.
http://www.destructoid.com/used-game...--256227.phtml
Killing the 2nd hand market is really just trying to make up for the AAA industry's lack of skill when it comes to financial matters. This whole matter is really just another example of what the gaming industry does best. They're shifting blame instead of taking responsibility for their own glaring problems.
