They have no problems shelling out millions of dollars for one game. Even when they start to go red they dont seem to hold back any. Now ofcourse some of those games became big hits and tons of people enjoyed them. Also, they dont have to use everything a console can offer. They dont have to push graphic barriers. Thats one thing I dont get anymore about games. Sure your big hits AAA titles that you are pretty sure are going to sell tons put anything and everything you can in them because you know you are going to get a return anyways. However, with untested games hold back some focus on the foundation for the game. IF it does great then you are all set and can push the boundries with a followup.

This news kinda makes me believe we might be seeing higher prices for games on average at retail for 3DS and NPG. 

I have 2 silly questions:

1-He only speaks of the DS/3DS budgets. Do we have to assume that NGP budgets will also be 2-3 times those of the PSP? 

2-How big are the budgets for AAA games on the DS and PSP? It's not the same thing going from 500k to 1.5 millions than going  from 1 to 3 millions.

1) It's a safe assumption to say that NGP dev costs will be going up around a similiar amount. You could argue that it'll be more then 3x as the new hardware appears to be a bigger 'jump' comparable to 360/PS3 development. On the other hand it might be less as alot of resources / tech can be shared between HD console, and developer feedback has been positive thus far. IT's all speculative, but x3 is probably a safe bet if 3DS is also around that mark.

2) There's very little information out there on the cost of handheld developement, but it's definitely cheaper then AAA developement on console. This is mainly due to the nature of the games and the smaller screen meaning less money being pumped in graphics. Something like Pokemon has a new game made every 4 years (with remakes being worked in the gap) which is I guess a pretty large budget type game, but very little else reaches that type of scale.

 With alot of DS games on the past their biggest expense has always been marketing anyway. Like, the Petz games, or drawn to life games would have been relatively cheap to make. The challenge with the handheld space has always been getting the marketing right to sell enough copies to make any real money, and the marketing cost can quickly exceed the cost of developement. Sounds like both will be going up with the next round of handhelds though...

Those who don't want to make full big game can always do something smaller and sell it only digitally.

Luckily for NGP the games can be developed along side PS360 versions.

It's already confirmed for the 3DS. $40 is the new $30

Thanks for the info, I thought as much and it is understandable. Still that is disappointing, I guess I'll need to do more shopping around online for the best deals then.

Thanks.

So with the increased price of the games (5-10€), things won't change that much. If they sell 150k-200k they will still make profit, although big franchises with big budgets will still require twice o 3 times those sales.

what is going to happen is that games graphics are going to plato for an while and when the latest of game engines become free or cheaper (or developers can reuse there engine) then the cost of development goes down and that gamers dont want better graphics then developers will turn to the next thing: Gameplay. 

This happens at the end of each console generations. 

but the golden age of gaming is near: when the above happens and it becomes cheaper to make once again and that combined with no the next generation of developers all being taught in universities , an wave of innoviation and great games is to follow. 

Cant wait