Mafia II â??six-year development now unprofitableâ??

Mafia II developer 2K Czech spent six years building the action adventure title, according to the divisive analyst Michael Pachter.

Speaking ahead of Take Two’s quarterly financial report, Pachter supposed that the exorbitant development cost of the Mafia sequel will be part of the reason why the game won’t return a profit for its publisher.

Mafia II shot straight to number one position this week in the UK charts.

Yet Pachter believes that consumer interest in the game “appears to be waning as the game’s position has dropped in many best-seller lists in its first week”.

He added: “Mafia II’s average Metacritic score of 74 is well below expectations. With six years in development, we believe the game is unlikely to achieve profitability.”

The cost of developing Mafia II remains unknown. A vast range of factors could determine the project’s price, though generally, a multiplatform AAA project that runs past five years in production could easily pass the $50 million mark.

It was recently revealed that Realtime Worlds spent over $100 million on its five-year project All Points Bulletin, though the studio has been criticised for wasteful spending.

Pachter added that strong sales of Red Dead Redemption will “offset” alleged weakness of Mafia II sales.