500k sales of each PS3 game needed for profit

OK, so get this. The average PlayStation 3 game costs $8.6 million to create. As if that isn’t bad enough for game developers’ pockets, according to Takeo Takasu, president of Namco Bandai, 500,000 units of each game must be sold worldwide in order to break even.

“We have to sell at least 500,000 copies per title worldwide to make a profit on PlayStation 3 games,” said Takasu.

So far the Japanese firm has released two games for the PS3, Ridge Racer 7 and Gundam, both of which are available in Japan and North America, and according to Takasu are “selling well..

500,000 copies sold or no profit? That, people, is batshit insane. Bad enough, Sony is on their crazy trip, where they believe losing millions of dollars is the path to making profits in the future, but now they’re making sure game developers suffer with them.

In case you guys didn’t know, Namco Bandai is currently in the process of developing THIRTY (yes, three-zero) games for the Wii. How many for the PS3 and the 360 together? Ten. It’s all starting to add up.

[Via Pro-G]