8 years ago, a normal game development cycle was about 2-3 years,tops
From someone who's been in games development for 17 years (and still is), I can say 2-3 years isn't normal now, and 8 years ago even less the case. In that period AAA titles were 18 months max, indeed today that is still the case. Maybe you can give more than 2 examples of this 'normal cycle'.
On a side note, its not the development that costs, its the licensing and marketing. Thats why F1 games are loss leaders, where the development represents no more than 10% overall costs. You've taken the exceptions as the rule.
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8 years ago, a normal game development cycle was about 2-3 years,tops
From someone who's been in games development for 17 years (and still is), I can say 2-3 years isn't normal now, and 8 years ago even less the case. In that period AAA titles were 18 months max, indeed today that is still the case. Maybe you can give more than 2 examples of this 'normal cycle'. On a side note, its not the development that costs, its the licensing and marketing. Thats why F1 games are loss leaders, where the development represents no more than 10% overall costs. You've taken the exceptions as the rule.