I would hire Firaxis, Bioware, Blizzard to make a mixture of Civilization, Homeworld, WoW and ME, i.e. a sci-fi setting, strategic MMOG with role-playing elements and it should take place in the Honor Harrington universe.

Paradox. Give them an empty check and a blank calendar then tell them to go nuts. Not sure what would come out or if it would be good but it would probably be something we've never seen before.

I'd necro SimTex so they could continue with MoO and MoM. Or at least a remake of the original, if not a sequel.

Second in list, make Crystal Dynamic finish Legacy of Kain.


...naaaah, who the hell I'm kidding, if I were rich I'd simply spend everything in women and booze.

Oh, don't get me started...

If you want names, first get the creative talent from current Obsidian / old Troika / Black Isle and give them the story and characters I have and the very very rough idea of world and have them make something out of it, flesh out the story and characters a bit more, write it a hundred times better than I can, and actually build a (huge) world based on that. Then also give them as many programmers as they need, let them hand-pick them, and a bunch of testers for a first run, doubled by a lengthy public beta afterwards.

About the game itself, it should be absolutely huge, 100+ hours if you try to mostly do just what you have to, easily 200+ if you take your time, and mostly open world (restricted by available means of transport in a few places, out of necessity). Free to do what you wish, but everything has consequences and while you'll be able to complete the game in many ways, you'll only "win" it by achieving a particular series of goals.

50-60% pure party-based RPG (though some parts may require just one character and many will require making proper use of 2-3 characters while trying to somehow keep the others alive as they're basically powerless under the respective circumstances), 25-30% strategy (still pondering whether it'd work turn-based or have to be real-time... I'm not exactly keen on RTSs...) with RPG elements, and the other portion more of a... seafaring adventure-RPG of sorts. Data-heavy, tactical... And plenty of gameplay concepts I'd want put in, such as train through use (no levels, feats, etc.), "divine" (long discussion) favor/disfavor and intervention, a particular concept of magic, etc., and characters that can die (usually no resurrection) but be replaced if you find others that will accept to follow, as long as you still have a leader truly dedicated to the cause alive.

As of technical details, PC exclusive and, if you say I'm so filthy rich and can afford it, donationware (obviously DRM-free... and also obviously accepting just about every form of payment anyone'll ask for) for the game itself. Won't be for profit, after all. Those who pay certain amounts will get tech support, be able to download the game however many times they want off the official site, and also get extras and enhancements from there. Those who won't will still be free to play the game, but they'll have to obtain it through other means, and get the enhancements through same other means too, and of course get no official support. Free for all will be bugfixes and some tools to verify installer integrity (game itself as well as all updates) to make sure it hasn't been tampered with.

Well, you got me started... Been chipping away at ideas for years. Just no skills to do anything with them, so...
/babble

Edit: Forgot, purely singleplayer, no online integration/achievements/whatever of any kind, and try to keep its video requirements relatively low, not at the "playable with integrated graphics" level, but at making sure that a midrange card from a few generations before the game's release will handle it just fine.

I'd go with Obsidian. I'd prefer something steampunk RPG, but whatever they would want would be fine with me. I'd pay for more testers...

I would hire Eidos-Montreal and remake Project Eden (also owned by Eidos). I wouldn't change too much the original formula as it was (and still is) a very fun game to play. Coop mode could use a tweak or two, I would definitely make it much better. The characters could use a rewrite, the originals are ok but nothing memorable, as well as the main story. The original levels are pretty good, maybe tweaking aspects regarding puzzles and combat while keeping the basic design. The competitive multiplayer aspect was well done, but definitely useless with only four people, and that would need to change and expand too. The game wasn't a masterpiece in storytelling or characterization, but it was extremely fun to play and satisfying, especially with three more friends helping. Eidos-Montreal would be the ideal studio to improve on the original's shortcomings while keeping true to it's vision.

Wise. I did the same. As a result it's leagues ahead of the first game in my opinion.

Let's see..

I might reform Troika, add on some of the oldschool Blizzard bug hunters (because god knows Troika needs it) and tell them to make Arcanum 2:
Bigger world!
Actually able to walk from location to location!
Higher level cap!
More tech trees!
More magic!
More sheep!

I would also hire Abney Park and Unextraordinary Gentlemen to do the music, maybe throw some Vernian Process and The Cog is Dead in there too, just for shits and giggles.

New IP? Well, semi new.

I'd pick up Troika and Black Isle, and go to Cracked Monocle and say "Tephra video game!" :)

Reform Looking Glass Studio, remake Thief 1 for 2014. remake Deus Ex:HR, make it into an open world Detroit city.

I would buy the rights to SIlent Hill series and made people from Team Silent work on one game and dudes from Amnesia try their approach to the series with another game.