EA flop Immortals of Aveum reportedly cost around $125 million

[Gamernyc78]

EA flop Immortals of Aveum reportedly cost around $125 million, former dev says "a AAA single-player shooter in today's market was a truly awful idea"

"No one bought it"

www.gamesradar.com

The studio's CEO, Bret Robbins, has gone on record to blame Immortals' poor sales on last year's extraordinarily busy release calendar, but an anonymous former Ascendant employee speaking to IGN said, actually, the concept of the game itself and its sizable budget were both fundamental mistakes and ultimately doomed the project.

"At a high level, Immortals was massively overscoped for a studio's debut project," the former employee said. "The development cost was around $85 million, and I think EA kicked in $40 million for marketing and distribution. Sure, there was some serious talent on the development team, but trying to make a AAA single-player shooter in today's market was a truly awful idea, especially since it was a new IP that was also trying to leverage Unreal Engine 5. What ended up launching was a bloated, repetitive campaign that was far too long."

 

[Zzero]

Not suprising, the game seems to have had a difficult development process.

 

[Exicide]

trying to make a AAA single-player shooter in today's market was a truly awful idea

This is where that dude got it so wrong, the game just wasn't marketed well and I don't feel like it stood out amongst the crowd all that much, and that's without including the difficult dev process AND the performance/quality issues it had as well. I'd kill for a remastered Bulletstorm (not the VR one, i'm broke )

 

[Gamernyc78]

This is where that dude got it so wrong, the game just wasn't marketed well and I don't feel like it stood out amongst the crowd all that much, and that's without including the difficult dev process AND the performance/quality issues it had as well. I'd kill for a remastered Bulletstorm (not the VR one, i'm broke )

Yeah it wasn't tht it was a AAA shooter is that it just wasn't attracting or inspiring to ppl. Then using UE5 out the gate and devs still hvnt wrapped their had around it didn't do it no favors.

 

[Shadow2027]

Seriously where does all the money go into games like this and Callisto Protocol? No way this game should have costs $125 million to make

 

[Gamernyc78]

Seriously where does all the money go into games like this and Callisto Protocol? No way this game should have costs $125 million to make

Well it was 80 mil to make but yeah you are right. These ppl overseeing these projects aren't efficient and seem to just waste money. Mind you Ghost of T in total only cost around $60 million to make.

 

[Mild Conviction]

If AAA development doesn't shape up soon, it'll crash and it'll deserve it.

Why was a new studio spending $85 million on their debut game, a new and unproven IP that had no pitch besides "Call of Duty but with magic?"

This is embarrassing. We desperately need to return to the time where $50 million was the absolute most a game cost to make.

 

[JAHGamer]

This game is actually pretty good but it was horribly optimized at launch and released right between Baldur's Gate PC and PS5 release... the publisher/devs did it to themselves. Should've delayed it 6+ months into 2024, game would've been polished and with much less competition.

Seriously where does all the money go into games like this and Callisto Protocol? No way this game should have costs $125 million to make

If AAA development doesn't shape up soon, it'll crash and it'll deserve it.

Why was a new studio spending $85 million on their debut game, a new and unproven IP that had no pitch besides "Call of Duty but with magic?"

This is embarrassing. We desperately need to return to the time where $50 million was the absolute most a game cost to make.

They used a bunch of hollywood actors for their characters and they also spent a lot on advertising, I saw ads during sports events and even on Mr Beast's channel. But yeah, 100+ million on a brand new studios first project is ridiculous.

 

[Infinity]

grossly misuse of funds. This flop almost sent their studio to oblivion.

 

[Infinity]

Rocksteady probably will lose over 50 million on that suicide squad flop. Probably way more then that. They're next on the chopping block.

 

[Nhomnhom]

Unreal 5 has failed miserably so far when it comes to AAA games.

 

[Gamernyc78]

Unreal 5 has failed miserably so far when it comes to AAA games.

Yup since it's inception.

 

[Gamernyc78]

Another game just sent to die due to a meh vision, Unreal 5 and just ppl feeling it was generic.

 

[Vertigo]

… somehow it looked like a generic unreal engine tech demo from 5 years ago.

Did anyone expect this to succeed? Feels like it was easy to predict this flopping as it did. Which makes you wonder … how didn’t EA see this if everyone could?

I’m more astounded by how much it cost considering I thought it was the result of a program for EA to fund smaller games from external devs.

 

[Wraith Phantom]

These games were created 4-6 years ago. Poor analytics, poor analysis on market trends. And the game didn't hit like they thought it would.And its unreal engine borefest.

Look man just stick to 50mill games. AAA only seems to work on people with their own engines and tons of money.

Read the room man.

 

[Evilms]

 

[Thirty7ven]

The game wasn’t even that expensive it was just a really poor concept with really average execution.

People are focusing on the budget, but it’s the fact that it’s a first person magic shooter game with generic art style that killed it.

 

[Gamernyc78]

… somehow it looked like a generic unreal engine tech demo from 5 years ago.

Did anyone expect this to succeed? Feels like it was easy to predict this flopping as it did. Which makes you wonder … how didn’t EA see this if everyone could?

I’m more astounded by how much it cost considering I thought it was the result of a program for EA to fund smaller games from external devs.

Thts, the feeling I got when I saw it too