10 Extremely Expensive Upcoming Video Games (That Have Already Flopped)

Game development is a long and strenuous process. You're forced to deal with stumbling blocks, one after the other, with no real break in between. This leads to ballooning budgets, possibly drastic creative changes, and a gradual loss in player interest. Although not every big-budget, long-in-development game goes through such things, there are always unfortunate exceptions.

Whether they're high-profile titles hoping to coast off their name (and nothing else) or a entirely under-marketed new IP that no one knows about, these games typically end up serving as cautionary tales on what to avoid when developing titles in general.

Now, are these games - and the ones in this list - doomed? Certainly not.

They just may defy the odds, like Final Fantasy XV or DOOM, achieving great success with critics and fans. You never know.

Some titles included here may surprise you, particularly because they, like other development hell ideas, have strong brand recognition. However, regardless of marketable pull or quality gameplay concepts, games stuck in a seemingly-unending grind can find themselves in too deep, without much of a chance to rise against the odds. Here's hoping they defy the odds and prove their extra development time was well worth it.

Most movie tie-in games come within the same few months as the films themselves and typically devolve into over-simplified, playable versions of the movie. Ubisoft decided that approach was too mainstream and committed to an Avatar game based on the 2009 movie.

While the initial announcement of this project was somewhat dumbfounding, it's actually an idea that could work. Avatar was a film full of interesting aspects and a rather unique world that would be perfectly suited to a lengthier allotment of time within a game's campaign. Add in interesting activities specific to the world of Pandora and the Na'vi, as well as a story that could be like an in-real-time Assassin's Creed (with human and synchronized Na'vi body swaps).

While there's potential greatness of concept here, the game will still require several years of development before it's available, and unless Avatar 2 comes out by then, the public's interest will be far gone.