Namco PS3 games cost loads

By Games Industry.biz Published 30 November, 2006

To make. They need to ship 500k of each to make money.

Namco Bandai must sell over 500,000 units of its PS3 titles before it begins to make a profit, according to president Takeo Takasu.

The price of graphics alone costs the second-largest Japanese publisher one billion yen (EUR 6.5 million), more than double that of titles for Nintendo's Wii, according to a report by Bloomberg.

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

Namco Bandai released Ridge Racer 7 and Mobile Suit Gundam for the PlayStation 3, both of which were the highest-selling games on the weekend of release, shifting around 22,000 units each.

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Comments (38) Latest comment 5 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • brooza #1 5 years ago

    I'm sure this looks familiar....

  • Biggles #2 5 years ago

    anyone know what the stock ticker of namco is? i feel like buying some put options...

  • chupachups #3 5 years ago

    Yet another parallel with the PSP and DS: the PSP costs two or three times as much to develop for as the DS, so even if sales were identical DS games would make far more money for publishers.

  • GrandpaUlrira #4 5 years ago

    Yeah, I've been puzzled by the number of stories seeming similar to those posted a little earlier on Next Generation. Are EG and NG related sites, or is it simply a consequence of two sites reporting the same news?

  • brooza #5 5 years ago

    I meant I originally posted this in the forum a few hours ago. The source that my source came from was 1up. No idea who their source was though

  • jimbob101 #6 5 years ago

    Bit risky releasing them at the console launch (a limited one at that). By the time there is a decent sized market the games will be forgotten about. Although there is a chance with a limited choice, that your games will be picked up by a significant percentage of purchasers.

  • king_skins #7 5 years ago

    ohhh, that must hurt

  • GrandpaUlrira #8 5 years ago

    I guess it's just all the sites reporting on a press release or something, then.

  • Dizzy #9 5 years ago

    >The price of graphics alone

    ??? RR7 is the same as RR6 on 360 and Mobile Suit Gundam doesn't have any graphics. Maybe he is begging
    people to buy games?
    Edited by 2 at 30/11/06 @ 13:39

  • el_pollo_diablo #10 5 years ago

    Such news bodes well for devs taking risks on new and original titles then.

  • spongebob #11 5 years ago

    I guess Sony forces all devs to spend millions and billions on making a game for the PS3. I mean, you could go a different route, even if the machine has the capability of rendering stuff that needs huge amounts of assets.

  • Steroyd #12 5 years ago

    Did Namco games even sell 500k on the PS2's userbase?

    o_O

  • KraftWerk #13 5 years ago

    They'll make profit come the next Tekken game anyway, no?

  • Dark_Stranger #14 5 years ago

    Lets just hope they sell more than 500,001 units as it wont be much of an xmas party otherwise - Bottle of Sapporo beer between 250
    Edited by 1 at 30/11/06 @ 14:27

  • username #15 5 years ago

    brooza: the majority of EG's news comes from posts in the forum. Just ask Blerk ;D

    I'm kidding! I'm kidding!

  • BadBoyBonner #16 5 years ago

    Think I could of done the graphics for about a grand (which would have been pure profit! lol) for the ps3 if given RR6 Xbox360 assets and paintshop pro! lol.

    Infact in many cases the ps3 seems to be missing things. Have a look at the following link.

    [link url=http://www.gamebrink.com/forums/showthread.php?t=11711
    ]http://ww w.gamebrink.com/forums/showthre...[/link]

    500,000 my arse!
    Edited by 1 at 30/11/06 @ 15:01

  • BadBoyBonner #17 5 years ago

    Has Takeo Takasu not noticed that everyone in Namco's Art department are now driving brand new sports cars! ol

  • BadBoyBonner #18 5 years ago

    And obviously one of them is shagging the bird who's head of accounts! lol

  • Eraser #19 5 years ago

    This probably won't be a problem for companies like Namco, who easily shift 2 million Soul Calibur's alone, but those small independant developers will never be able to get such figures on their sales record.

  • brooza #20 5 years ago

    username: I know some of it comes from the forum, I just didn't realise it was copied word for word!

  • Muddtallica #21 5 years ago

    See, this is something that I always wondered about this next generation; isn't it going to become even more massively expensive and time-consuming than ever to actually make games? Blu-Ray hi-def technology no doubt opens up a world of new possibilites for developers, but those multi-million polygon character models and 1080p worthy textures aren't going to model themselves. Like Eraser said, this isn't going to be a problem for the likes of EA, Namco, Capcom and the like, but I wonder about smaller developers...on the other hand, it might mean a lot less mediocre shovelware, given the time needed to make a next-gen game wouldn't be worth it just to make some C-grade licensed shelf clogger...

  • Keimar #22 5 years ago

    Another reason for Namco to stop making bombs like Katamari or Baten Kaitos.

  • SeesThroughAll #23 5 years ago

    I don't see what the problem is. There are reduced costs development and distribution methods available to small/indy developers. Small developers can use XBLA on the XBox360, PlayStation OP and Store on the PS3, and Steam on the PC.

    Not all is dark and grim.
    Edited by 1 at 30/11/06 @ 16:29

  • BadBoyBonner #24 5 years ago

    How about a Katamari game with ps2 "textures" running at 720p released on XBLA now there is something even I would buy! An certainly easily worth the same as the Billiards game.

    Would probably make more money on it than trying a retail release too. Everyone’s a winner (apart from retail obviously! lol)
    Edited by 1 at 30/11/06 @ 16:45

  • ronuds #25 5 years ago

    Ken Kutaragi replied to these comments:

    "Developers are more than happy paying double, even triple what they would to develop a game for another console. After all, we're Sony! Whether or not they make their money back is of no consequence because they should just feel lucky to be able to create a game for our PS3."

    He obviously didn't actually say this, but I could see him doing so.

  • BadBoyBonner #26 5 years ago

    Ken Kutaragi then went on to add "Muhahahahahahahahahahahaha!" with the tip of his little finger just inside the very right of his mouth.

  • mrbandersnatch #27 5 years ago

    Given the costs of developing for the PS3 (and even the 360) I can see smaller studios moving to the Wii and DS leading to a dirth of original titles for the HD crowd. I can also see my small studios being formed to develop for Nintendo because the cost of entry is so damn low.

    $2K for a Wii dev box? *Im* almost tempted to buy one just to explore whats possible on the Wii (and Im not neccessarily talking games here). In fact if I had $2K I would ;)

  • NthSimulachum #28 5 years ago

    Its not just art assets, all the fancy new programming of physics, and creating 7 core multi-threaded programs doesn't sound easy or cheap either.

    What is next I ask you? Games with real-time chemistry?

  • The-Bodybuilder #29 5 years ago

    You telling me gundam's graphics cost 6.5mill? LIES!!!

  • secombe #30 5 years ago

    this is great news. It simply means the makers to have to up their game and not release below par efforts.

    Or...

    this is awful news. It simply means the makers will rely on tried and tested formulas, big licenses and sequels, after all - one commercially unsuccessful game for a small developer could ruin them, even if the game is amazing.

  • yagisencho #31 5 years ago

    The machine without a soul is forcing big publishers to focus on soulless software titles. Sounds about right.

  • sequent #32 5 years ago

    How could RR7 cost so much, when it's basically a rehash of RR6 with a few bonus bits and some better lighting effects? I'd suggest this is more a reflection on Namco than Sony....

  • monkey-ken-wizard #33 5 years ago

    Mobile Suit Gundam: does this game really deserve to make a profit?
    Ridge Racer is also a disappointment for me.
    Namco try again, or a least try!

  • logos01 #34 5 years ago

    If this is for low-budget games like these I can only imagine the break-even figure for high budget games. I can now understand why Koonami wants to put Metal Gear Solid 4 on the XBOX360, they probably have to sell about a million to break even.

  • MadMirko #35 5 years ago

    That means there is no chance in hell to make a profit on PS3 games for quite some time. The installed base of PS3s should be around 350k right now, and software sales are below those of other systems (attachmet rate < 1 and so on).

    Good luck finding developers starting new projects.

    This also explains the loss of exclusives. With these numbers in mind, 3rd parties would demand a lot of money from Sony for staying exclusive to the PS3 (as they couldn't make money by selling titles alone), which Sony can't / won't pay.

    Good luck sorting this mess.
    Edited by 1 at 01/12/06 @ 08:26

  • BadBoyBonner #36 5 years ago

    22,000 units on 200,000 sales, the best selling game was only sold to just over 1in 10. While am not the king of computer trivia if someone is an reads this, is that the lowest attach rate of a consoles best seller at launch?

    Thanks in advance

  • #37 5 years ago

    pfft.

    kill off the traditional artists and have procedurally generated content using cold hard mathematics.

    it looks like it'll be the only way that ps3/x360 titles will make any decent returns without pissing millions up the wall producing the art assets for each title.

    <a href='http://www.gameboar.com' >http://www.gameboar.com& lt;/a>


  • TonyAlmeida[CTU] #38 5 years ago

    @Madmirko, that 350K number is rubbish. And saying no game can make profit for quite some time is rubbish too, things like that are calculated on a yearly bases. If Sony sells the projected 3-5 million consoles before april 2007 (and ofcourse they will sell those numbers, production/sales is at 200K/week now), then a game like Motorstorm wil easily sell 500.000 and more even before summer 2007. It will become the systemseller easily until the next better game comes out. Another thing, Namco is third party (and makes shitty games with Gundam for example), those devs are having a harder time exploring the machine. It's a complete different story for First Party houses. They are financially totally secure, Sony takes care of initial losses, budgets and salaries, so these devs can focus more on quality instead of rushing out the games to meet deadlines because a budget or the dev-cash is running out.

    Why do you think Sony acquired so many talented PS2-devvers recent years to become part of Sony's First Party Family. Guerilla (Killzone), Zipper (Socom), Naughty Dog (Jak&D) Incognito Studio's etc etc.

    Sony knows it's too difficult and expensive to dev for PS3 (exactly the same as it was for PS2-devs in the early days) for a smaller inexperienced devcompany, and by building a larger FirstParty-arsenal they are sharing the PS3-knowledge and experience all these devhouses are learning together with Sony's own inhouse studio's like SCE Santa Monica, Sony UK, Sony Japan and the likes of Polyphony Digital and Team Ico.

    Sony is ofcourse hoping it will produce some very high quality games with this strategy, that will utilise the machine in a much better way than most of the PS3 multiplatform-port-games right now do. Looking at games like Motor Storm, Lair and F1, they are probably hoping right. Together with some good third party support from Konami, Square, Rockstar and Capcom you have enough players in the field to make enough excellent games.

    Oh, btw, by the time GT3 came out at the PS2, the machine was sold only around 2 million worldwide, the game managed to sell 15 million times in the end. When a popular console becomes widely available, it will keep growing and selling the good games like hotcakes even long after release...
    Edited by 1 at 02/12/06 @ 07:37