Cost of making console games set to soar
The cost of developing games for the next generation of consoles will soar, analysts predict.
The current cost of console games development is between $3m (£1.7m) and $6m (£3.4m) per title.
This could rise to $10m (£5.7m) for games for forthcoming games consoles from Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo, according to a report from research firm Screen Digest.
In some cases costs could even rise as high as $20m (£11.5m), it warned.
High costs coupled with the risk of games flopping mean developers are likely to focus on fewer and higher quality titles in future.
It is likely to have a knock-on effect on the cost of buying games, said Screen Digest chief analyst Ben Keen.
The current average cost of an Xbox game is around £23 and this will rise to around £38, he said.
The new machine from Microsoft, the Xbox 360, is due to go on sale in the US on 22 November, with Europe and Japan following shortly afterwards.
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