| KrspaceT said: Take it from a Nintendo fan generall removed from the Triple A western space. Game profits are not based 100% on just how many games it sold. Budgets and the amount of money they get per game is a significant factor. For example games produced by a first or second party (see 90% of Nintendo's lineup) get more profit per game sold than Titanfall does. Also Japanese game developers tend to develop games with less expensive budgets than western companies, especially for Niche developers. Like Persona 5 and Nioh. A while back I had heard some talk that Xenoblade Chroncles X had profited even after just 200,000 sales in Japan. While I cannot track that source down, given that Xenoblade 2 is a thing, clearly it was worth it to continue the series even at less than a million sold. Breath of the Wild needed 2 million sales to break even. More than usual I am sure, but I think we can agree similar game titles in the west like Assassins Creed and Far Cry would not do well with only that many sales. Titanfall probably was unprofitable though. |
It's difficult to quantify profit on these things these days because the bottom has fallen out of the AA market quite a bit in recent years. But profit on a AA game would have been 1 - 1.2m sales about 5-6 years ago, then the issue of new gen which raised the cost. So I would say on average 1.5-2.0m is probably the base line... BUT... some games come along and are able to cut that trend and are able to do more with less (it helps that off the shelf gaming engines have gotten a lot better). Hellblade for example is apparently a very good game and graphically stunning and is able to make a profit with a lot lower sales. CDProject is able to make games cheaper as they are making games in poland and salaries are lower, Ubisoft were getting good tax breaks in Canada (and the UK is the same) where you can claim back say 20-25% in salaries or cost in tax rebates... lots of different variables in play.
Making an indie game : Dead of Day!
