wow. That's a lot of resources for one game. That can't be right.

I wonder how many are working on graphics. You know because that is all that matters.

@happysqurriel, I think your estimation is probably right on, as a lowball estimation. +1.

$80,000*200=$16,000,000 per year. ouch. Granted, the 200 people are probably more recent as Sony is probably pushing Konami to get this out the door as they need a system seller.

"$100,000 per developer per year"

Yes, very poor wording. 

Taking things out of context is fun!

This game didn't have 200 developers initially. There's an interview on Gametrailers with Ryan Payton where he says they started off with like 80 guys or something like that, and the game just kept growing and growing. He was really suprised just how big it had gotten.

Here's the gametrailers interview.

I personally can't see the game breaking the 40 mil. mark.   

Hus, you do realize that the business still pays someone for that healthcare, right? Government healthcare just means that the business pays higher taxes for each employee to compensate for the difference.

Employees cost a heck of a lot more than just their salary. This link gives some rough estimates of those costs in the USA. Japan will obviously be different (health coverage probably being the big one), but things like the cost of office space might balance it out somewhat.

HappySquirrel's numbers seem perfectly reasonable to me, or even a little conservative. His wording was clear too, as far as I'm concerned.

ps3 will most likely have 7-9 million ps3 sold, thats like they have to sell 2 million to actually make a decent profit, for all those developers etc, 2 million on a 8 million console is alot, but very possible

For MGS4, it's more than possible. It's practically guaranteed. :P

Hell, a good bit of ps3 owners probably bought the machine for either MGS or FF. Only fanboys would spend $5-600 on a game console. Yeah, i'll admit it. :P

Aside from the people that bought it for Blu-Ray, of course. 

$100.000 per developer is really on the low side. Office space regularly costs $1000,- per employee a week including recources for "high level" companies (companies with big overhead costs, which certainly include software developers with huge software lincence fees, technicians etc.). Furthermore most developers working on a AAA game like MGS will be experienced and therfore expensive. Japan is a very expensive country (Tokio most expensive city in the world) and I expect the lowest salary on a yearly basis to be $ 40.000. $40.000 means about $60.000 (depending on country) for the employer for taxes, insurances etc. High level managers, chiefs will certainly be among the highest payed people within Konami, since this is their nr1 game. 10 people in the range of $200.000 - $1.000.000 is to be expected.

Lets say 100 people worked 3 years, 100 people 1 year with an average salary + costs of 75.000 (company cost).
That makes 4*100*75.000=$30.000.000

This is without any further production/advertising costs.

Konami probably gains $20,- profit per game.

They need to sell 1.5 M to break even.

Worldwide this probably won't be a problem and after the break even point net profit goes fast. Still about 1 in 5 PS3 owners need to buy the game to break even.

Notice the bolded part (emphasis mine). Actually, the whole part I pasted is pretty interesting IMO...

Q: It can't be overstated how important this game is for PlayStation 3, I think, and it's like a proof-of-concept for the system, almost.

RP: Yeah. I'm not sure what else I can say about it... I think it's a proof-of-concept not only for PlayStation 3, but for "next-gen" gaming as a whole. I don't think I'm the only one who's disappointed in the sales of next-gen consoles --

Q: Even the 360 sales, you're disappointed in?

RP: Absolutely. I think overall they had loftier expectations for the 360. And so I think Metal Gear Solid 4 could really be a big turning point for next-gen gaming as a whole. Of course we have the next-gen sound, we have the next-gen graphics, but it really is about the next-gen gameplay that's going get people excited. And get them to throw down 300, 400, 500 dollars for a new console. So yeah, that's a big burden, because a lot of games aren't pushing that. They're putting in the next-gen graphics, next-gen sound, but the gameplay's staying the same. And that's a problem.