Reggie says most Wii games can make a profit with under a million sold.

[WereKitten]

LordTheNightKnight said:
"I think that the point is that the developing costs are not that important with high enough sales volumes or big enough projects."

Except that wasn't his claim. He claimed that GTA would generate more money on the HD systems with no proof other than the assumption that... actually I don't think he gave a concrete reason why.

"Think of the alternative Wii platform: $16-20M for the development of a big project, that means a final total cost of average $143M versus the $190M of the HD+PC version. Game returns more about $15-$18 per sold copy. To rake the same profit ($222M) you would need to sell for $365M/(75%*$17.5) or about 28M copies on Wii alone. Plus the Wii platform doesn't offer the same degree of opportunity for DLC profits."

But you are assuming the marketing will have to be equal cost, instead of lesser since it's one system. I think we can assume a budget of $50-$70 million for marketing.

Well, I read that in that way because he was talking of the game retail price versus the cost. And thus the math I presented.

I can't see why the marketing should be halved: you have to balance how much you want to spend in marketing with the market penetration you need to cover it and to rake the profit you want. Even following your ides and taking a $60M of marketing and launch expenses, you'd end up with a $78M budget. To get the same profit you'd then have to sell $300M/(75%*$17.5)= about 23M copies on Wii alone with half the launch and marketing budget, and thus a much lesser exposure than the HD option.

And then, diminished DLC opportunities.

Does it really look more likely than the HD+PC option to you?