[scrapser]

Another way for a company to afford developing a niche market simulation is to be a company that has very healthy sales in other genre's so they don't have to worry so much about the budget. You would think Ubisoft is such a company. I have no idea how their financial infrastructure is set up but I bet it is not along these lines. In any case, it's not uncommon for companies to work this way. For example, RANS is a company that produces homebuilt aircraft kits and on the side they also make recumbent bicycles which is a niche market. They can use the same resources for two entirely different markets. I think it would be even easier for a software development house to do something similar as they are not at all different except for the size of the clientele.