Big sales needed for PS3 game profit
Regardless of what any of us want, the whole idea of making video games is to make money. As it stands, it would seem that Sony isn't making it easy for anyone. This could be bad news for the PS3's future.
According to Namco Bandai President Takeo Takasu, due to production costs, each PS3 game will have to sell at least a half-million units to be able to make a profit. For comparison, the Wii costs half as much (which means half the sales for profit). The news is in stark contrast to the PS2, where some games that sell 100,000 titles are able to make money.
The sales levels required just to make money on the PS3 should be troubling for gamers. Sony's current Greatest Hits requirements are 400,000 copies, so it is very possible that a GH title could have lost the publisher money (and we could start seeing more of them as publishers scramble to break even). Will the high development cost prove to be prohibitive to the developers of niche games that made the PS2 a true global hit?
