Namco Bandai Says 500,000 Sales Needed For PS3 Profits

Namco Bandai president Takeo Takasu has claimed that any game must sell at least half a million copies on the PlayStation 3 in order for it to make a profit, in an interview with business site Bloomberg. According to Takasu, increased development costs for the console, particularly relating to graphical assets creation, means that the average game will now cost ¥1 billion ($8.6m) to develop. This is stated as being more than twice the cost of developing a game for the Wii. Worldwide shortages of the PlayStation 3 will also have an impact on the possibility of developers turning a profit says Takasu, with games for all three next-generation consoles only expected to account for ten percent of software revenues, or 3.15 million units, for the company in its fiscal year ending March 31st, 2007. Namco Bandai has sold around 26,000 units on the Xbox 360 in Japan, via titles Ridge Racer 6 and Love Football. The company’s two PlayStation 3 launch games, Ridge Racer 7 and Mobile Suit Gundam: Crossfire, have proven to be the best selling titles so far in Japan. By comparison, the company’s support for the Wii has so far been limited, with PlayStation 2 port Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 2 and a new Tamagotchi title being the most high profile so far.