Namco Bandai' s Takasu Says PS3 Game Titles Must Sell 500,000

By Masaki Kondo

Nov. 30 (Bloomberg) -- Namco Bandai Holdings Inc., Japan' s second-biggest maker of video-game software, must sell at least half a million copies of a game for Sony Corp.' s PlayStation 3 console to make money on the title, said President Takeo Takasu.

Graphics for the high-definition games cost about 1 billion yen ($8.6 million) to create, more than double that for Nintendo Co.' s Wii titles, Takasu said in a Tokyo interview Nov. 28.

``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.' '

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.

``Game makers may hesitate to make games for a console if its shipment is being delayed,' ' said Yuuki Sakurai, who helps manage $6.02 billion at Fukoku Mutual Life Insurance Co. in Tokyo. ``Some game makers may wait until a console becomes popular because of increasing production costs.' '

Tokyo-based Namco Bandai expects games for the consoles introduced this month by Sony and Nintendo and a year ago by Microsoft Corp. to account for 10 percent 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, when it was introduced.

Namco Bandai developed two titles, the ``Ridge Racer' ' car racing series and the latest ``Gundam' ' shooting game, for Sony' s PlayStation 3' s Japan debut on Nov. 11, and will introduce four titles for Nintendo' s Wii this weekend. The Wii offers a motion- sensor controller without high-definition graphics.

Shares of Namco Bandai fell 0.3 percent to 1,734 yen as of 1 p.m. on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.