History Main / SunkCostFallacy

* ''Anime/PokemonTheSeries'': The Team Rocket trio -- consisted of Jessie, James, and Meowth -- once had a dangerous reputation as professional thieves that had good grace with their crime boss, Giovanni. However, when their heist on the Pokémon Center was thwarted by [[KidHero 10-year-old Ash]] and an injured Pikachu they deemed to be weak, the trio refused to believe that they could have been beaten by a child and instead concluded that Ash's Pikachu must be very powerful and thus they must capture it for Giovanni. Their attempts to steal from Pikachu always failed, no matter how many resources they put into it, and their string of failures eventually caused them to fall out of Giovanni's favor. Normally, this would have been the time for Team Rocket to give up the chase and instead pursue new and far more successful careers, but they have invested so much of their time and resources to catch Pikachu already that they couldn't just do that. They need to catch Pikachu in order to justify all the hardship and effort they went through and maybe, just maybe regain Giovanni's favor once again.

* This was one of the factors in why the UsefulNotes/{{CED}} videodisc format never did well -- it had been stuck in DevelopmentHell since the 1960s and RCA was determined to see it through, despite the obvious shortfalls of the format in comparison to UsefulNotes/{{VHS}} and UsefulNotes/LaserDisc; they'd blown tons of money on it and it would be a severe blow to their corporate pride if they opted to scrap it. (This, along with Creator/{{NBC}}'s issues at the time, wound up being RCA's CreatorKiller; GE would purchase the company in 1986, largely for NBC, and discard the rest; the last CED titles were released that year, player production having ceased two years prior.)

* In ''WesternAnimation/SpiderManAcrossTheSpiderVerse'', this is ultimately Miguel's motive for trying to stop Miles [[spoiler:from saving his dad. Through the Spider-Society, he allowed the occurrence of "[[MiseryBuildsCharacter Canon Events]]" to direct the lives of the various Spiders, despite the deaths and heartbreak they entail. If Miles can save his father, and by extension prove that Canon Events are in fact fairly flexible, then Miguel would have to admit that he's been pointlessly committing MurderByInaction who knows how many times over, something he is psychologically unable to do]].

* Nintendo's Platform/VirtualBoy is another example, or possibly an aversion depending on how you look at it. Halfway through development they learned two things, the first was that playing video games on a red-on-black screen that could make your eyeballs sore was a miserable experience and the public would hate it, the second was that a color display would have pushed the price far above what the average consumer could afford. They decided to cut their losses and release it in an essentially unfinished state knowing full well it would flop just to make ''some'' revenue out of it and mitigate the losses. Project chief Creator/GunpeiYokoi, who also created the UsefulNotes/GameBoy (and Metroid), decided to leave and [[StartMyOwn help create a new company, Koto]].

* Nintendo's UsefulNotes/VirtualBoy is another example, or possibly an aversion depending on how you look at it. Halfway through development they learned two things, the first was that playing video games on a red-on-black screen that could make your eyeballs sore was a miserable experience and the public would hate it, the second was that a color display would have pushed the price far above what the average consumer could afford. They decided to cut their losses and release it in an essentially unfinished state knowing full well it would flop just to make ''some'' revenue out of it and mitigate the losses. Project chief Creator/GunpeiYokoi, who also created the UsefulNotes/GameBoy (and Metroid), decided to leave and [[StartMyOwn help create a new company, Koto]].

* In ''WesternAnimation/SpiderManAcrossTheSpiderVerse'', this is ultimately Miguel's motive for trying to stop Miles [[spoiler:from saving his dad. Through the Spider-Society, he allowed the occurrence of "[[MiseryBuildsCharacter Canon Events]]" to direct the lives of the various Spiders, despite the deaths and heartbreak they entail. If Miles can save his father, and by extension prove that Canon Events are in fact fairly flexible, then Miguel would have to admit that's he been pointlessly committing MurderByInaction who knows how many times over, something he is psychologically unable to do]].

-->'''Player''': The phenomenon whereby a person is reluctant to abandon a strategy or course of action because they have invested heavily in it, even when it is cleare that abandonment would be more beneficial? [[ObliviousToHisOwnDescription Of course I've heard of it, why do you ask?]]\\

* ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'' has Redcloak both lampshade this and deconstruct it, as expressed in ''[[Recap/TheOrderOfTheStickStartOfDarkness Start of Darkness]]''. It's not that Redcloak believes in [[BigBad Lord Xykon's]] plan, or even likes the idea of what Xykon is trying to achieve; in fact, Redcloak hates Xykon's guts. The reason Redcloak stays around in spite of his hatred is that Redcloak believes that if he quits, it'll make all of the horrible things he's done worthless. This is in spite of Redcloak being told by both his brother and Xykon himself that this is an empty excuse. Redcloak continues to support Xykon despite being entirely too familiar with the lich's BadBoss habits and knowing that completing the Plan with Xykon will ''not'' work out in Redcloak's favor. In fact, Xykon tells Redcloak point-blank that he's using this flaw of Redcloak's as a way to keep him under control. But because Redcloak feels too invested to quit, in spite of knowing that he's being strung along and that his flaws are being exploited by the lich, Redcloak keeps himself trapped in villainy. This causes him to decay to the point that [[spoiler:when someone points out to Redcloak that he already has what he wants, Redcloak still refuses to change course because it would mean admitting to himself that he's made a mistake, and he just can't do that]].

* Nintendo's UsefulNotes/VirtualBoy is another example, or possibly an aversion depending on how you look at it. Halfway through development they learned two things, the first was that playing video games on a red-on-black screen that could make your eyeballs sore was a miserable experience and the public would hate it, the second was that a color display would have pushed the price far above what the average consumer could afford. They decided to cut their losses and release it in an essentially unfinished state knowing full well it would flop just to make ''some'' revenue out of it and mitigate the losses. Project chief Creator/GunpeiYokoi, who also created the UsefulNotes/GameBoy (and Metroid), [[Main/ResignedInDisgrace fell on his sword]] and left for Bandai.

[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunk_costs#Loss_aversion_and_the_sunk_cost_fallacy Sunk cost fallacy]] is a cognitive bias that causes Bob to remain committed to a course of action because he's already spent time or resources on it, even though the commitment is irrational (i.e. he would be better off walking away). When Bob is engaging in this fallacy, he will remain set on the course of action even if the profit from his success would be less than what he's already spent.

->I have already spent eight dollars on this contest. If I spend seven more, I can win the prize.\\
I could buy the prize elsewhere for five dollars.\\
But if I stop now, the money I already spent will be wasted, so I must continue.

This trope is not merely for any commitment to a course of action; the above is only a fallacy since Bob will be spending seven dollars instead of spending five. If Bob expects to only spend two dollars more on the contest, for example, as opposed to five, it would be valid to continue even if the total spent ends up being more than just buying the prize ($10 vs $5). In order for a situation to be the Sunk Cost Fallacy, '''all''' of the following must be true:

* This was long argued to be the main reason why Russia lost the UsefulNotes/RussoJapaneseWar. By the end of the war Japan was winning militarily, but its economy was stretched to the breaking point, and their mobilization resources were completely depleted, as they had started drafting kids and geezers into the army, with the predictable outcome for troops quality and morale. Some analysts say that had Russia pushed just for a couple of months more, even in the wake of the horrific losses like Tsushima and Mukden, Japan would've sued for peace. On the other hand the Tsar's government had really lousy intelligence (as well as [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1905_Russian_Revolution unrest on the home front that needed attention]]) and ''[[DidntSeeThatComing didn't know that]]'', so they decided to [[KnowWhenToFoldEm cut their losses]] and sued first.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse'': [[spoiler:[[Characters/TheOwlHouseEmperorBelos Philip Wittebane's]] initial reason for traveling the Boiling Isles was to rescue his brother Caleb. But after he killed Caleb in a fit of rage, Philip didn't return back home to report his failure and tragedy. Instead, he stayed in the Boiling Isles and devised a plan to wipe out all witches in one swoop so he can return home as the greatest witch hunter. A plan that required centuries to pull off, by which point Gravesfield has moved on from its witch hunting past. When his plan fails at the last minute and he is stranded in the modern world of Gravesfield, Philip refuses to accept defeat and instead digs up the last remaining Titan's Blood to go back to the Boiling Isles and finish the job. It's becomes evident that he didn't want to accept that his actions were AllForNothing.]]

* It has also been argued that the reason UsefulNotes/{{World War 1}} lasted as long as it did was in no small part because of this fallacy, for all major powers involved. The blog Blog/ACollectionOfUnmitigatedPedantry even uses it as an example of failing to update an strategy when conditions change, and sums it up like this:
-->"By 1915 or 1916, it ought to have been obvious that no gains made as a result of the war could possibly be worth its continuance. Yet it was continued, both because having lost so much it seemed wrong to give up without ‘victory’ and also because, for the politicians who had initially supported the war, to admit it was a useless waste was political suicide"

* This was long argued to be the main reason why Russia lost the UsefulNotes/RussoJapaneseWar. By the end of the war Japan was winning militarily, but its economy was stretched to the breaking point, and their mobilization resources were completely depleted, as they had started drafting kids and geezers into the army, with the predictable outcome for troops quality and morale. Some analysts say that had Russia pushed just for a couple of months more, even in the wake of the horrific losses like Tsushima and Mukden, Japan would've sued for peace. On the other hand the Tsar's government had really lousy intelligence (as well as [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1905_Russian_Revolution unrest on the home front that needed attention]]) and ''[[DidntSeeThatComing didn't know that]]'', so they decided to [[KnowWhenToFoldEm cut their losses]] and sued first.

* Another aversion: when HMS ''Belfast'', that warship on the Thames, was damaged by a mine during the second world war, it was deemed that the fastest repair solution would be more expensive than a new cruiser. That would have taken three years and dry dock space Britain didn't have however.