HappySqurriel on 20 May 2007
| JDWolf36 said: Feel free to correct me but I believe the 500k mark for PS3 games has a lot to do with programming for the system being more complicated for the Xbox360. If this was the case it would mean you would need both more experienced programmers for the system and most likely more of them working on the game than you would for the 360 meaning your spending more to produce the game than you would on other systems thus necesitating higher sales numbers. As for a game like RR7 needing to sell 500k to make a profit I believe the game has elements such as cars and tracks that are cross overs from RR6 but I don't think the game is a complete port as extras have been added and it is as has been said that it is in 1080p. One last thing to you have a referance for the 2 month development on Gundam Mussou just sounds doubtful. |
For the most part "programming" for the PS3 is the cheap part of development ...
There are (essentially) 3 situations:
- You're a large developer with a centeralized team that creates your tools and technology (essentially your "engine"); these will be used across several dozen projects so it is a very small "per-game" cost.
- You're a mid sized developer who will licence your engine and most of your tools for a fraction of the cost of developing it yourself; the Unreal 2 engine was priced at $350,000 per project when it was new, I imagine the Unreal 3 engine would be (somewhat) similar.
- You're too small of a developer to afford either of these options which means you (likely) can not afford to create the graphical assets to push the PS3
The reality is that it is the graphical assets which are so expensive to create ... Why developers complain about the PS3 more than the XBox 360 is that Microsoft encourages multiplatform XBox 360 and PC development which (sort of) reduces the development cost per-platform on Microsoft exclusive projects.
