Revive shelved game franchises by licensing them to mid‑size AA studios

Kotaku reports that many major, beloved game franchises are being shelved because publishers view nine‑figure budgets as too risky, and argues these series could be revived by licensing them to proven mid‑size “AA” teams and letting those teams work without interference. The article lists several examples: Dead Space was revealed to be permanently on ice last year; Thief has not seen a non‑VR entry since 2014; Deus Ex has lain dormant for a decade; Titanfall 2 came out ten years ago; and there has not been a new 3D Prince of Persia for 16 years.

It says industry consolidation and inflated valuations have pushed publishers to demand blockbuster returns, driving up development costs and prompting moves such as Ubisoft cancelling multiple projects and setting billion‑dollar revenue expectations for its games. As evidence that smaller teams can still deliver big returns, the piece points to recent mid‑size successes: Arc Raiders announced 12 million copies sold, which the article calculates at $40 per copy equals $480,000,000 (about $336,000,000 after store fees), and Clair Obscur: Expedition 33’s developers claim it cost less than $10 million and had sold over 6 million copies by the end of 2025, bringing in at least $300,000,000 before store tithes.

Key Topics

Tech, Dead Space, Aa Studios, Electronic Arts, Ubisoft, Arc Raiders