Namco must sell 500,000 PS3 games to make profit

[jkam]

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/content_page.php?aid=21440

Japanese publisher reveals break-even figures

Namco Bandai must sell over 500,000 units of its PS3 titles before it begins to make a profit, according to president Takeo Takasu.

The price of graphics alone costs the second-largest Japanese publisher one billion yen (EUR 6.5 million), more than double that of titles for Nintendo's Wii, according to a report by Bloomberg.

"We have to sell at least 500,000 copies per title worldwide to make a profit on PlayStation 3 games," said Takasu.

Namco Bandai released Ridge Racer 7 and Mobile Suit Gundam for the PlayStation 3, both of which were the highest-selling games on the weekend of release, shifting around 22,000 units each.



What do you guys think? Will this make an impact in the long run? Wouldn't a 360 game cost just as much? Maybe its just the new hardware hump they need to get over?

[tehweezner]

wow

[Roufuss]

What do you guys think? Will this make an impact in the long run? Wouldn't a 360 game cost just as much? Maybe its just the new hardware hump they need to get over?

I think we're going to see a shitload of ports as companies want to try to break even.

I don't think a 360 game costs nearly as much, but I'm just pulling that out of my ass.

[Duo_Maxwell]

I think we're going to see a shitload of ports as companies want to try to break even.

I think we already see that now and have for at least a year or two, not always to break even but because they know they can make more money. IMO the true concept of the 3rd party exclusive title is almost all but dead now.

In other news, how were Gundam and Ridge Racer 7 the highest selling titles for launch? Maybe I'm wrong, bu that has to be a number from the Japan only launch. And maybe they'd sell more copies worldwide if they didn't crank out the crap in a box that appraently is MSG Crossfire (which I haven't played, but absolutely everyon esays it sucks.

[Roufuss]

I think we already see that now and have for at least a year or two, not always to break even but because they know they can make more money. IMO the true concept of the 3rd party exclusive title is almost all but dead now.

Well, actually, there have been alot of games that are always predominatly "Playstation". Tekken, for instance. Ridge Racer 7 looked to be PS3 exclusive even though nothing was ever said.

I think we'll finally see the first multi platform Tekken game this generation, if this is true that they need to sell 500,000 per title JUST to break even. You make a Tekken for the 360 with Live play and you'll hit that number in about two weeks.

Wouldn't really surprise me if a port of RR7 showed up eventually.

I wonder if this is the same # for other developers? Chances are looking good MGS 4 won't be exclusive for long.

But I think you're right, if they need to sell this many just to break even this will be the final nail in the 3rd party exclusive coffin.

[Apossum]

lol.

[shipwreck]

I'm really confused at why those two titles cost so much for "graphics alone". Ridge Racer 7 is basically Ridge Racer 6 redux (middle of the pack for 360 graphics) and comparisons between 6 & 7 have really not shown a ton of difference between the two.

And that Gundam game is no thing of beauty and is one of the worst looking (and playing) PS3 games according to Cheapy. If Namco is spending this much money and this is the best results they are getting, maybe they simply don't have the developers that are talented enough to work on the PS3.

[Duo_Maxwell]

Well, actually, there have been alot of games that are always predominatly "Playstation". Tekken, for instance. Ridge Racer 7 looked to be PS3 exclusive even though nothing was ever said.

I think we'll finally see the first multi platform Tekken game this generation, if this is true that they need to sell 500,000 per title JUST to break even. You make a Tekken for the 360 with Live play and you'll hit that number in about two weeks.

Wouldn't really surprise me if a port of RR7 showed up eventually.

I wonder if this is the same # for other developers? Chances are looking good MGS 4 won't be exclusive for long.

But I think you're right, if they need to sell this many just to break even this will be the final nail in the 3rd party exclusive coffin.

True, but those unspoken exclusives only give them an opening to port the game later. I think we saw more current gen titles that seemed exclusives only to later be ported to another system than we did real exclusives. Looking at Tekken even it was eventually ported to handheld systems. And think Namco learned fast that a multiplatform fighting title wouldn't work last gen when they tried t with Soul Calibur 2. I doubt alot of these titles will bother to get ported to the 360 because it's just not a strong system overseas (and the controller is terrible for fighters IMO), plus they tried out RR 6 on 360. And with game developing costs seemingly rising all around, for several reasons not just hardware, I think this next generation will see the final 3rd party exclusive title sometime in it's lifespan. The only company that may continue to produce them throughtout will be Square Enix, and even they may fall (they do have a tendency to put many of their RPGs on PC).

[62t]

I think we'll finally see the first multi platform Tekken game this generation, if this is true that they need to sell 500,000 per title JUST to break even. You make a Tekken for the 360 with Live play and you'll hit that number in about two weeks.


If only Namco follow such simple logic. Soul Calibur 2 Gamecube outsold the PS2 version and Soul Calibur 3 is a PS2 exclusive.

[rodeojones903]

I'm really confused at why those two titles cost so much for "graphics alone". Ridge Racer 7 is basically Ridge Racer 6 redux (middle of the pack for 360 graphics) and comparisons between 6 & 7 have really not shown a ton of difference between the two.

And that Gundam game is no thing of beauty and is one of the worst looking (and playing) PS3 games according to Cheapy. If Namco is spending this much money and this is the best results they are getting, maybe they simply don't have the developers that are talented enough to work on the PS3.


I was thinking the exact same thing.

[javeryh]

You make a Tekken for the 360 with Live play and you'll hit that number in about two weeks.

This is so true. Hopefully Japanese third parties will start waking up to the fact that making a game on the 360 that can be played over Live = 500,000 copies sold guaranteed.

[Roufuss]

This is so true. Hopefully Japanese third parties will start waking up to the fact that making a game on the 360 that can be played over Live = 500,000 copies sold guaranteed.

Exactly... look at Gears of War, it sold 1 million copies worldwide in 2 weeks, but I guarantee 2% of that number or lower came from Japan... that's mostly all US and European sales.

I wish Japanese companies would start waking up a bit to the fact that if you make an awesome game with good online play it CAN sell a boatload abroad, and who knows, maybe Japanese will start picking up on it as well.

I mean, Gears of War sold 1 Million copies with no playable demo's at all.. that's astounding. I think a Tekken with online play would EASILY hit this mark. I mean, and fighting game fans will eat it up since there is no other fighter besides Dead or Alive 4 to play right now.

We'll see if Namco still decides to be stubborn when they aren't even breaking even on their games.

[ViolentLee]

Namco has floundered since its joining with Bandai. Bandai's never been a gaming powerhouse, and the duo has released turd after poo nugget. Namco has always been one of my favorite publishers, too. C'est la vie.

[XboxHardcore.com]

500k each? Fuck... looks like Namco isn't making a profit on PS3 games anytime soon....

[Kendro]

But I think you're right, if they need to sell this many just to break even this will be the final nail in the 3rd party exclusive coffin.

QFT.

[wubb]

I don't know if I can truly believe this. There aren't even 500K PS3s shipped yet, right? If that's true, it's bad news for PS3 publishers (or Namco is just spending way more than they need to in dev costs.) Either that or $70+ has to be the new MSRP for PS3 games.

It could also be that they are including the cost of a lot of start up stuff they'd need to do to develop any PS3 games (you know PS3 dev units, blu ray disc pressers, 50" HD screens for every employee, new pool table for the lounge, etc.) and now that they are done the next crop of games will be cheaper for them to make.

[epobirs]

I'm really confused at why those two titles cost so much for "graphics alone". Ridge Racer 7 is basically Ridge Racer 6 redux (middle of the pack for 360 graphics) and comparisons between 6 & 7 have really not shown a ton of difference between the two.

And that Gundam game is no thing of beauty and is one of the worst looking (and playing) PS3 games according to Cheapy. If Namco is spending this much money and this is the best results they are getting, maybe they simply don't have the developers that are talented enough to work on the PS3.

They might be following the approach of shooting low for the first projects on a new platform, so as to avoid spending too much money while working up the learning curve. It sounds like the process has left them with some concerns about how much it's going to cost to really push the machine.

[epobirs]

I don't know if I can truly believe this. There aren't even 500K PS3s shipped yet, right? If that's true, it's bad news for PS3 publishers (or Namco is just spending way more than they need to in dev costs.) Either that or $70+ has to be the new MSRP for PS3 games.

It could also be that they are including the cost of a lot of start up stuff they'd need to do to develop any PS3 games (you know PS3 dev units, blu ray disc pressers, 50" HD screens for every employee, new pool table for the lounge, etc.) and now that they are done the next crop of games will be cheaper for them to make.

It isn't unusual for launch games.

Publishers have two choices. Go cheap and hope to make money on a high attach rate in a tiny market, or go big and hope for a game with a very long selling life that will eventually make a profit with some of the costs chalked up to cost of entry to the new platform.

[epobirs]

Namco has floundered since its joining with Bandai. Bandai's never been a gaming powerhouse, and the duo has released turd after poo nugget. Namco has always been one of my favorite publishers, too. C'est la vie.

Bandai produces a lot of crap but it's toy and TV show license crap that does a ton of business in Japan. Not a lot for the mainstream US audience but I doubt that was high on their list of considerations for the merger.

Besides, I'm really hoping a future Soul Calibur will feature a cameo from God-Jesus the fortune telling robot!
http://www.engrish.com/detail.php?imagename=god-jesus.jpg&category=Toys&date=2002-10-16

[epobirs]

If only Namco follow such simple logic. Soul Calibur 2 Gamecube outsold the PS2 version and Soul Calibur 3 is a PS2 exclusive.

That hasn't been true for a long time. The PS2 version kept selling after the GameCube version peaked and at last report was ahead by a bit over a quarter-million units.

Once they sat down and looked at the numbers, the math showed the cost for one SKU on the platform with the largest installed base, by a massive margin, could make more money than selling more units against the cost of three SKUs, each with a custom character.

Consider. How many of those GameCube SCII buyers would have just gotten the PS2 version is it were the only choice? What the GC sales indicated most of all was that Link was a better unlockable character than the old guy from Tekken and a comic book character whose popularity had peaked long before and was never all that big. Namco's take was that the console exclusive characters were more trouble than they were worth.

All of which would have been fine if Soul calibur III had the same popularity as its predecessor but it isn't doing nearly as well. Profitable but not moving as well as any one version of the previous SC. IF multiple SKUs meant divvying up the PS2 sales rather than increasing the cumulative total, going with just one SKU was the right choice this time around.

The shine seems to be off the apple more in Japan than here, where sales are almost double. So that would make the lack of an Xbox SKU more of a loss than the lack of a GameCube version.

[sfu_lifer]

I know folks developing on the PS3 after working on their 360 projects.
It just requires a TON of manpower more than the 360, especially for a PS3 only project. A lot of that goes to the increased art costs. The 360 also takes a lot of resources (esp compared to the Wii) but I was quoted 25% more resources to get the PS3 port out (with no online functionality to boot). That will likely come down as they get used to developing on the PS3 but they will never get parity with the 360 development costs wise.

[RelentlessRolento]

most of their franchises are strong enough to do so. Guaranteed Tekken 6 will sell more than 500,000