That's another issue entirely, and I would assume from a financial standpoint, this effectively amounts to two exclusives.

I'd expect the only real savings would be in conceptual design, which is probably a fair amount, but I doubt it's the core cost. I'd put it at (At least?) 60-70 percent of an actual exclusive, but I'm frankly talking completely out my ass, which is why I didn't make a thread about these issues. I have no financial basis on which to ground such estimations. 

Again guys, the point here isn't to say that companies shoudl make PS3 exclusives. I doubt that's the right choice, but it would be a whole separate group of calculations. The essential question was: should developers abandon the PS3 the way they did the Gamecube? And the answer is no.

Well if one were to look at Capcom's approach, as well as the guys behind Burnout: Paradise, then making multi-platform games doesn't seem to be troublesome. CoD4 also seems like a good valid point.

I just think it all depends with the minds working at said developers. One developer may know how to work their magic on one console, and find the other to be a "stonewall," whereas another developer can make both versions both shine.

I heard that making games on the PS3 first and then porting them on the 360 is actually cheaper, and I don't know if this is true, but if it is... WTF man? Maybe it does depend on the developer.

So basically if a game hits half-million mark or hits one million mark its a successful game. I got it then, so really Xbox 360 has NO and I mean NO good sellers in Japan for that console and neither does the Wii or the PS3...Maybe the Wii in Japan do to Wii Sports and Wii Play.

Wii Sports: over 2 million
Wii Play: nearly 2 million
Mario Party 8: nearly 1 million
Super Mario Galaxy: over 500 000
Wario Ware Smooth Moves: over 500 000
Super Paper Mario: over 500 000
Twilight Princess: over 500 000

There's a few, though they are all first-party.

What's the highest-selling PS3 game right now in Japan? Minna no Golf?

Hmm... Dragon Quest Swords is the highest-selling third party Wii title in Japan, with nearly 500 000 sold.

Minna no Golf 5 is indeed the highest-selling PS3 title thus far, with nearly 400 000 sold.

I'm sure that more than the conceptual design can be shared between the two versions. Many of the graphical assets and level design can be used with little to no changes (other than file format conversion in some cases) between the PS3 and 360. That's a big part of the cost of a game. Some of the game engine code can surely be shared with little to no change too, depending on what programming environment was being used.

But clearly, many developers are spending too little on the PS3 versions of their multiplat games, and I think that's what Entroper was talking about.

Honestly, I think the answer to my question would vary a lot depending on what kind of game it is.  The one major place you save is on creating assets like models, textures, levels, etc., but art budgets have a pretty wide range for different games.

Yes.  I also wonder how much of it is due to money constraints and how much is due to time constraints.  Most likely, a developer will have one version of the game almost finished before they work on a port, and the publisher will want the port to be done very quickly so that the game isn't yesterday's news by the time the port is released.  It may not be a simple matter of spending more money to get better results, unless you want to allow for significant delays in the port, or delay both versions so that you can release them simultaneously.

multiplats are doing fine on the ps3 (well most of them)
its exclusives that are most likely having a hard time breaking even with development costs. heavenly sword for example, is one of the biggest budget games this generation and at 600, 000 sold so far, it doesn't look like it will end up making much if any profit for the developer.

ratchet and clank is another example, this game was apparently insomniac's biggest project yet and sales have been crushingly dissapointing so far.

developers won't stop making multiplats for the ps3, but i have a feeling theres not going to be many 3rd party exclusives if this continues.

Well, in the business world time really IS money ;)