That $36 can be substantially less for some publishers - it varies tremendously.
When EA got The NFL liscence exclusively it cost a ton...and cuts into the profitability of the Madden games.
The Music in music games has to be paid too.
Movies, tv-shows, engines, and alot of other stuff is liscenced.
$36 is really only what you get if its all the content for the game is in house so that you don't have to liscence anything...and if the game isn't part of an established series you probably need more advertising than usual for the game to break out and do well.
So for Madden NFL 2010 which has alot of ad costs, server costs and the NFL brand cost it might be more like:
PSP - $17 / unit - $3m budget ~ 176k to break even
Wii - $22 / unit - $5m budget ~ 227k to break even
PS3/X360 - $30 / unit $15m budget ~ 500k to break even
Edit: This is a better, simpler way to look at it - and its from Pacther's 2009 report
| Category | PC Game | PS2 Era Game | Wii (est) | PS3/360 Game | DS | PSP | Dig Dist |
| Retail Price | $49.99 | $39.99 | $49.99 | $59.99 | $34.99 | $39.99 | $9.99 |
| Retail Take | $10.00 | $8.00 | $10.00 | $12.00 | $7.00 | $8.00 | $3.00 |
| Wholesale Price to Publisher | $39.99 | $31.99 | $39.99 | $47.99 | $27.99 | $31.99 | $6.99 |
| Manufacturing/Packaging | $2.00 | $2.00 | $2.00 | $2.00 | $3.00 | $2.00 | $0.00 |
| Big Three Manufacturers Fee | $0.00 | $6.00 | $8.00 | $10.00 | $4.00 | $5.00 | $0.00 |
| Liscenced Content Royalties | $0-$8 | $0-$6 | $0-$7.50 | $0-$9.50 | $0-$6 | $0-$6 | $0-$1.50 |
| Development Costs | $1-$7 | $1-$5 | $1-$7.50 | $1-$10 | $1-$3 | $1-$4 | $1-$3.50 |
| Total Cost of Goods Sold | |||||||
| Low | $3 | $9 | $11 | $13 | $8 | $8 | $1 |
| High | $17 | $19 | $25 | $31.50 | $16 | $17 | $5 |
| Average | $10 | $14 | $18 | $22.25 | $12 | $12.50 | $3 |
| Publisher Gross Profit Margin* | |||||||
| High (Lowest Costs/Wholesale) | 92% | 72% | 73% | 73% | 71% | 75% | 86% |
| Low (Highest Costs/Wholesale) | 57% | 41% | 38% | 34% | 43% | 47% | 28% |
| Average (Avg Costs/Wholesale) | 75% | 56% | 56% | 54% | 57% | 61% | 57% |
People are difficult to govern because they have too much knowledge.
When there are more laws, there are more criminals.
- Lao Tzu
