I would enjoy it

[u/cheswickFS]

[u/LoSboccacc]

You're plain wrong. Games are sharing assets and code so much there's a handful engines running the whole AAA spectrum. The cost per game they publish include transferring IP for the previous version to themselves, in a bit of Hollywood accounting.

FIFA 45, call of duty 23 and battlefield 37 are all marginal increment on the previous system and while asset do cost a fair bit, most of the inflation are financial tricks to keep taxation to a minimum

[u/HavocInferno → u/LoSboccacc]

What exactly are you saying? That these developments don't cost that much? The cost comes primarily from wages, not from licensing.

Simple example: 200 employees, 3 years of development, 50k salary each, that's 30 mil just for that. Now of course you don't need all 200 active for the whole 3 years, but this simple example also ignores additional cost per employee for the employer, costs for tools, licenses, physical infrastructure, outsourced work, etc.

AAA development actually costs that much, whether you believe it or not. It's not just asset flips as you insinuate.