Citing average development costs per title at $8.6 million, Namco Bandai president Takeo Takasu has said that the company must sell at least 500,000 copies of every PlayStation 3 game in order to make a profit.

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

Of course, not every studio will see development costs that high (depends on the title, talent, tools, etc.), and costs will only drop as companies gain valuable experience on the platform and improved toolsets. Still, it's a telling indication that Sony's newest baby is a bear to develop for, all but shutting out smaller developers as it currently stands.

Namco released two titles for the launch of the system in both Japan and North America, Ridge Racer 7 and Mobile Suit Gundam: Crossfire. We loved the former, while having a very different opinion about the latter.

via vggen