Problems: Finding the research. It was very very hard to find any kind of concrete numbers to go off of for the costs of the various games that have been made in the last couple of decades. Especially recently. Most of the studios are a bit tight lipped about what their actual expenditures were, as well as the fact that most of the time, the marketing costs were included in the estimates, and the design/creation costs were not given seperatly, with no clue as to the production and design costs. 

Solutions: I found a document made by people who hove conections with the various companies and they tallied actual data from them into a comprehensive report with trends, statistics, and ACTUAL NUMBERS. The full report costs over $2k, but the snippets of info I got from their various sections showing it off were more than enough for the project.

Results: I think the result came out very well, with a unified design, well drawn pieces, and some decent numbers and facts.

Research References: 

( ^^ the $2k report)