Disc-based market “crumbling”; the numbers don’t add up says Bleszinski

[Wesley]

AAA game development costs are just too high to sustain a flop, or even a modest success. It has to sell in the 10s of millions to justify the cost of development

Correct, but when you're devving for a game with those requirements, it no longer becomes a game, but another mass-market product. Look at COD and Battlefield - mass market appeal, budget doesn't need to be that high because they can re-use things and game elements and it'll sell in the millions. The problem comes in when devs spend too much money on a new franchise and it doesn't do well - then they claim that the market's completely not ready for whatever they're pandering and they go back to producing annualised releases.

All we have to do, really, is point to two games and ask Cliff to re-state his opinions. Minecraft is a low-budget game and it's amassed millions because of how fun it is to play, its low price, and the game's quality. CD Projekt Red makes DRM-free games and the Witcher series is fantastic, but they don't charge the earth for the game, nor do they amass a massive budget to make it. And that's a small subset of the market. Make it a third with Metro: Last Light

I'm guessing he's jealous of the profits that these indie devs bring in. They don't always bring in massive fortunes, but in terms of their profit compared to their spend, it's huge.