Russian publisher 1C's Nicholav Baryshnikov as said that he believes it has become impossibly difficult to turn a profit on big budget games.

Baryshnikov told GamesIndustry.biz that expectations are getting so high of blockbuster games that even titles that score in the high 80s on meta-scores are having trouble being profitable.

He explained: "Because marketing budgets are tens of millions dollars, consumers are expecting that they're going to pay 40 USD or 60 USD and get amazing things. Hundred hours of gameplay, tens of thousands of hours of DVD footage, super multiplayer... "

"If we did this it would be, I don't know, 200 million USD..." continued Baryshnikov. "If we produce something of great quality but it lacks this component or that component, then the press says, 'oh, 85 per cent. I played the game, it's kind of nice, but it has no video or any of this..' And the consumer says 'it doesn't have multiplayer, I'm not going to buy it.' So it's catch 22."

By Ewan Aiton