Namco Bandai has to sell half a million copies of a PS3 game before earning money
Namco Bandai, who are Japan’s second-biggest maker of video games, must sell at least half a million copies of a game for Sony’s PS3 to make a profit on the title, said President Takeo Takasu (shown left in the photo).
Graphics for the high-definition games cost about 1 billion yen ($8.6 million) to create, more than double that for Nintendo’s Wii titles, Takasu said in a Tokyo interview with Bloomberg from November 28. This explains why Bandai Namco are developing 30 games for Wii, but just 10 for PS3 and Xbox 360.
“We have to sell at least 500,000 copies per title worldwide to make a profit on PlayStation 3 games,” said Takasu. He said titles for the new Sony console are “selling well.” And please keep in mind that he means in the PS3’s lifetime of at least five years.
Tokyo-based Namco Bandai expects games for the consoles introduced this month by Sony and Nintendo and a year ago by Microsoft to account for 10% of software sales, or 3.15 million units, this fiscal year ending March 31, Takasu said. The company sold about 26,000 titles for Microsoft’s Xbox 360 last year (Ridge Racer 6), when it was introduced.
Namco Bandai developed two titles, the Ridge Racer’ car racing series (Ridge Racer 7) and the latest Gundam’ shooting game (Mobile Suit Gundam: Crossfire), for Sony’s PlayStation 3’s Japan debut last November 11th, and will introduce four titles for Nintendo’s Wii this weekend (SD Gundam G Breaker, Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 2, Tamagotchi’s Sparkling President & Ennichi no Tatsujin). The Wii offers a motion- sensor controller without high-definition graphics.
Shortages of the PlayStation 3 may also make it more difficult for software makers to sell enough games. Tokyo-based Sony halved shipment targets for the console this year and delayed the European release amid a dearth for some parts. The company may have missed its goal of shipping 400,000 consoles in the U.S. earlier this month, according to analysts including Jeetil Patel at Deutsche Bank Securities in San Francisco.
