[smacktoward]

One reason it can't happen today is because it never ends well. Ion Storm was a huge disaster; it produced Deus Ex, but it also produced Daikatana, one of the truly legendary bad games. The studio mismanaged itself so badly that by 2001 the whole thing had collapsed except for Warren Spector's team in Austin, who soldiered on for a few more years before giving up.

[trabant00]

True. But also true that that's what it takes to release groundbreaking stuff. Failure is a very possible outcome.

I think the price of Daikatana is well worth the existence of Deus Ex.

Ofc no investor would ever take a risk like that these days. Sad reality for me as a consumer.