Basically I seen two people oddly enough mods say that 1 million sales seem overrated.  The first one was for Rainbow Six 2 and the other one was Turok.  Below are the quotes which maybe I just took out of context so correct me if I did but to me they are saying 1 million is "meh"

My stance on it is:

We don't know how much it is costing these folks to truly make these games.  1 million has been a pretty set standard for a while now and I am sure most devs or publishers keep that in mind when making their games.  It is why platinium sales are always reported and looked at as the goal for any game.  Now that they reach it for some at least here it is not enough LOL.  Guess people get spoiled from seeing the Halo's,Mario's, Guitar hero's, etc when those are the exception not the rule.  All other games strive for the 1 million mark.  If they are reporting it then they must be happy with the numbers though I guess we can see once their final reports are released maybe then we can see that Turok was actually very profitable for them.  Again just seems really dumb to knock sales of 1 million for "regular" games which is what Turok really is.  Talk to me about 1 million being a failer for the next Halo, Mario or COD etc. 

So what do people think?  Are 1 million sellers now overrated? Does it being multiplatform diminish the accomplishment?  Does it depend on the game? Does it matter how long it takes to get to 1 million?When will people ever be happy with sales? 

Mods are human too, we all make mistakes. ;)

It depends on games, Turok should be happy to sell 1 million +, Rainbow 6 will probably sell over 2 millions.

I think any game that achieves 1 million is likely to be considered a success from pov of the publisher and developer as with 1 million in sales they will likely have made back all the money they invested and made some profit too.

over 2 consoles I don't think 1 million is much. but per console 1 million is quite a lot.

1 mil across 2 or more platforms isn't anything special. Just look at how many million seller exclusives PS2 had.

I think 1 million sales is not good for some games. If GTA IV was to sell only a million it would be considered a failure so it depends on the game's brand and its following. If SMG had only sold a million then it would most likely have been considered a failure.

Essentially it comes down to the fact that it costs more to make a game on multiple platforms than it does for a single platform.  With higher costs, higher sales are not only expected, but needed. 

Without knowing the exactly levels one could ask if going multiplatform was worthwhile if you see 1 million sales on one console but only 1.3 million sales for that same game on two consoles for example.

I read a while back that multiplatform games only add 20% development cost since games are for the most part made on a PC/MAC and then just ported to the specific consoles etc.  Sorry I do not have a link for you but I'll look for it.  Basically 20% doesn't seem like much if that game can sell another 25% or more on another console.  I think is why quite frankly I say over 75% of games coming out are multi platform whether it is 360/ps3 or ps2/wii etc.  Again I wish I had links but it seems to me multi =  higher sales which negate higher the higher cost.  Of course all this can vary on the game.

For PS3 and 360 maybe ... but for the Wii , PSP and DS the development costs are way lower ...

For me, as far as HD consoles go, I think 1m is the point where we can assume the majority of games have started to be profitable. Therefore, it's always good news to hear any game sold 1m. Some games like MGS4 will need to sell in excess of 1m to reach profitability, but I'm sure for Turok 1m is a success.

Is it a great success? On Wii, yes, because that's a lot of profit for most Wii games and almost gaurantees a sequel, but not anymore for HD games because development costs are so high. If a HD game hits 2m across both platforms, then we can be sure a sequel will likely follow.