Also, sony obviously doesn't have to pay licensing fees to themselves, So the profit of each copy of the game sold is a bit bigger than 3rd parties. I'm not sure how much, or significant that is.

wow, didn't think Heay Rain was this successful...take note square...

Your estimates are correct except that Sony and Quantic probably do not split the profit. It depends on their contract but typically the publisher will get a much higher share of them .( depending on contract in some cases the contract can be such that the developer only recoups development cost until the game reach certain milestones and then the developer starts sharing the profit, before those milestones the publishers pockets all profits..)

But yes I agree with you, the majority of the people do not understand how retail works at all.

As for copies being sold at full price, that is actually a half decent assumption as if a retailer drops the price it does not necessary means the money the publisher gets drops too ( the retailer gets the game for roughly 30$, recommended price is 60$, it's up to the retailer to pick a price in between, no matter what he picks, the publisher will still get 30$ per copy ( at least for the first few months, later on things can change as publisher can drop the recommended price and their share..)

it doesn't change the maths much, the publisher gets roughly 50% of retail recommended price, if he's not a first party he has to pay Sony out of that, if it is sony he doesn't...

I hope this doesn't encourage others developers into making pseudo-games.

Ditto. :/

I hope it encourages them to try something new.

As long as its pushing the envelope in  the right direction, I agree. Personally, I consider Heavy Rain and its ilk an assault on the essence of gaming as a medium, as they sacrifice its core element, interactivity.

But you do interact with the game, it's just a different experience. You still press a lot of buttons and move in the game a lot like any other game.

Heavy Rain, my favorite PS3 exclusive.