The cancellation of Blizzard's long-in-development MMO Titan may have cost upwards of $50 million USD.
This is according to independent analyst Billy Pidgeon, who told GamesIndustry.biz that development costs for the game "may have amounted to tens of millions, perhaps $50 million or more."
"This is not an unusual event, however," Pidgeon adds. "Blizzard has cancelled several games in various stages of development in the past. Costs for unreleased games can be significant, but launching substandard games can harm the reputation of a successful publisher such as Blizzard. Expenses for development can be considered R&D, and benefits can include invaluable training, IP and technology that can be applied to other games."
Pidgeon cites that the team working on the game had spoken about Titan's lack of a subscription-based model, keeping an eye on the current trends and eventually cancelling the project when they felt it wasn't quite up to par.
David Cole of DFC Intelligence echoed Pidgeon's statement, noting that in order to be successful in today's market, an MMO has to meet a very high standard.
"They realized that unless a big MMO is out-of-this-world unbelievable it won't work in today's market where it competes against a bunch of low cost options. If they felt that it just wasn't getting to that point it makes sense to cut your losses," Cole said, adding that Blizzard's free-to-play card game Hearthstone has managed to be successful despite its significantly lower budget.
Blizzard recently announced the cancellation of Titan, claiming that the team no longer felt any desire to continue working on it and that it wouldn't meet the standard the company was aiming for.
Anonymous sources have come forward with more information on Titan, describing it as a "sci-fi MMO set on a near-future version of Earth."
Keep it locked to IGN to learn more about Titan as details emerge.
eurogamer.net
ign.com
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