Does anyone have any idea on how many sales are needed to break even on high budget games such as Killzone 2, GT5, FFXIII etc? I have to say I care, developers making profit means a sequal of a game will be made, something which did not happen to games such as Shenmue 2 as development costs were far bigger then sales made.

Its usually 1mil

Hard to say considering with all the DLC where the devs are making money from aswell.

That's a question that's hard too answer, since we don't know a lot af the variables.

GTA IV took $100 million to make. As a rule of thumb we can say that $20-30 go to the publisher/developer.

This would make GTA IV to need 3.3 - 5 million copies to break even.

Be aware that break even is obviously not where publishers want to be, usuaslly I think you want at least a 20% return on investment. GTA IV definitely made a healthy profit, however a lot lower than previous GTA's, something R* will feel.

We often don't know what games cost to make, we do know that an average HD game takes some $20 million and that Killzone, GT and FF will be at least twice that. I expect GT5 to be the most expensive game ever, so will need the same as GTA.

FF13 and Killzone 2 I project to be around 70 million, so need 3-3.5 million copies to break even.

@BengaBenga

So in other words, the people that worked on killzone 2 are now millionaires? I didnt know people get payed 1 million dollars for working on a game, despite that "assumption" im sure killzone 2 isnt 70 or 60 or even 50 million. Also were did you get this "average HD game cost 20 million to make"?

 Sony probably paid all the devs cost and I think Sony is not going to make money with this game sales attracting some new PS3 buyers that's probably their target.

Um, what? That money is split over several hundred full-time employees, as well as offices, equipment, expensive professional software, legal fees and other things. Also, they are paid for the entire length of development, which with some of these HD projects could be 7 years. So you have to factor in not 1 but 3-7 years of salary per person.

@Following on from Leo's point without the figures direct from the developer there's no certain way of knowing.

Developing high profile games will vary in cost depending on developer , some are better and more efficient with the money they receive others not so much , we also have to take into consideration that many technologies will be shared between development studios (namely Sony ) which will reduce the cost's.

"Q: When I visited the London Studio recently, everyone was keen to stress that there is a new spirit of collaboration between Sony’s in-house development teams.

SY: That was one of the key initiatives that Phil and I worked on. Before, we were part of each regional organization of Sony Computer Entertainment, so we were a little bit at arms’ length, and didn’t necessarily share information from an early stage. But after Worldwide Studios was formed, we have been sharing our technology and developing a common infrastructure. After two and a half years, the distance between the London Studio and Foster City in the US might as well be as close as the distance between London and Liverpool. I may be exaggerating, but we feel as if that is already happening."

http://threespeech.com/blog/2008/07/interview-with-sonys-president-of-worldwide-studios-shuhei-yoshida/



games will generally cost less as the generation progresses.

"Um, what? That money is split over several hundred full-time employees, as well as offices, equipment, expensive professional software, legal fees and other things. Also, they are paid for the entire length of development, which with some of these HD projects could be 7 years. So you have to factor in not 1 but 3-7 years of salary per person."

How many Sony games have been in development for 7 years if any ?

Quite a few, I imagine. You hearing about any game in particular is quite late in the process: usually they have a working game engine, concept art, plot, an outline of the mechanics, a full team put together and a plan for the rest of the process. From initial idea to final product I think a lot of the games were 7 years.

I still doubt that, but for most of that time, it will just be a few people turning ideas over in their mind