10 Video Game Bombs That Made ONE Fatal Mistake
2. Going AAA Instead Of AA - Immortals Of Aveum
By most accounts, Ascendant Studios' recently released magic-themed FPS Immortals of Aveum is a decent enough game - if not one many rushed out to purchase.
With "Mostly Positive" user reviews on Steam and a fair 69 Metascore, it seems to be an acceptably mid-tier offering which, if budgeted responsibly, could've done just fine commercially.
Yet the game was far more of a dice roll for Ascendant than it seemed, given that production ended up costing an eye-watering total of $125 million.
That's a price tag similar to those of more recognisable titles like Destiny and Shadow of the Tomb Raider, and clearly far too high a cost for what the game actually is.
Though Immortals of Aveum's title, premise, and gameplay all felt categorically AA, the impressive visual fidelity was certainly AAA-caliber, suggesting that Ascendant mistook the broader appeal of what they were making.
Few are coming to a game like this for the pristine, world-class graphics, and so with a more modest presentation, Aveum could've cost drastically less and consequently launched for a AA price tag instead.
Reigning in the PC system requirements would've also made the game more accessible to a wider swath of players, given that many customers found themselves struggling to run the demanding title on even capable rigs.
Ascendant CEO Bret Robbins himself even admitted that Immortals of Aveum would've performed better at a lower price point, and in an era where game budgets seem to be spiralling out of control, there's a clear lesson to be learned from Aveum's ill-judged scope and resulting costs.