What is the cost to developers to make games for Wii?
Fact: Development kits have been confirmed to cost as low as $2,000 each. This is significantly less expensive than other next-generation consoles which are said to cost at least ten times as much. Furthermore, THQ president Brian Farrell estimated Wii game development costs are in the range of a quarter to half of that required for PlayStation 3 or Xbox 360 development. Ubisoft’s Red Steel game for Wii will incur a development cost of approximately $12.75 million. This means a game such as Red Steel could cost a PS3 or 360 developer between $24 – $48 million. Small developers will also have the option to distribute their games cheaply via the Virtual Console.
