Keep this going, would like to know other peoples opinions. Also GT portable is pretty much confirmed, PD will definitely be around for a long time.

Games don't have to sell millions to be really good...

Look at ICO, it was confirmed from a dev that they shipped only about 800k copies of it and it is known to hardcore gamers one of the best to ever grace the PS2. Shadow of Colossus only had 930k according to VGC, and you have to know that it is regarded as the #1 game ever made for PS2.

Also look at Valkyria Chronicles. Even though it's third party, it's known as the best RPG game this gen so far. It sold only about 400k copies worldwide also.

Just because games don't sell 1mil, doesn't mean it's not good.

Not talking about the quality of these first party sales, i'm saying is developemt financially viable for Sony? If a game like Uncharted cost $20 million my answer has been answered which is yes, Sony are making back the costs of these games.

Sales are down YoY, and it's not just the Playstation brand that is suffering.  They're losing marketshare with their HD TVs, music players, cell phones, etc.  All of Sony appears to be under siege and with the World's economies still mired in recession it will be surprising if Sony manages not to lose money.

Yes it is a good point. Even though first party games have been very good on the PS3, they have little to no dominance brand wise. That is why games like Call of Duty: World at War, MGS4, and GTA IV have been able to blow them out of the water. While MS's first and second party have really dominated. And no one needs to mention that Nintendo's have dominated as it is pretty apparent.

I mean despite the quality, their properties have been quite weak. It's great for 3rd parties but not so great for Sony because like you said those budgets have been pretty high. Of course they will continue them but they need some big sellers. Can't live off 3rd party exclusives or multi-plat games forever. Now GT5 will break this trend, but can't do it off one game. Hopefully God of War 3 and Uncharted 2 will step up. Sad to see not many of them sell like their quality like they would on MS and Ninty's system. Keep trying Sony you'll hopefully reap the benefits of the quality games soon.

      Well, if a million sales is the criteria, then I don't see why they wouldn't be continued to be made as Killzone 2, Little Big Planet, Ratchet and Clank, and the first Uncharted sold well over a million.  And Infamous, Heavy Rain, Uncharted 2, God of War III and Gran Turismo 5 are all going to sell well over a million too.

This I agree with, sooner rather than later Sony will catch a break with a game and that should hopefully start the ball rolling with other first party titles. It's darn obvious GT5 is going to be the one which does it and if it really does release by March 2010 the other first party titles will also benefit greatly in terms of sales.

regarding budgets of high-quality games, according to this, killzone 2 only costed GG $21mil to make. that means, according to VGC figures, and using your $15 profit on each game sold, that KZ2 has generated $19.5mil, nearly covering its production cost. if we assume that KZ2 will have strong legs[as it should], and continues to sell 50k a week, it should break even in 2 weeks. by the end of the year, KZ2 will have generated a large profit.

Problem is.  That is quoting an article that states it's OVER that... and never says how much over.

I think the $15 profit figure you came up with is a little too low...I say 1st/2nd party games get Sony $25-35