Cost of making a Nintendo 3DS game? Up to $1.8m, says developer

Nintendo’s new 3DS games handheld drops early next year. The portable, which is capable of displaying glasses-free 3D visuals, will cost ¥25,000 (around $300) in Japan, a marked increase on the cost of the Nintendo DSi.

However, it’s not only consumers that will feel the pinch – developing games for the 3DS is about to get a lot more expensive.

Harvest Moon developer Marvelous Entertainment recently informed investors that developing a single Nintendo 3DS title would cost between $600,000 and $1.8 million. To put that in perspective, developing games for the original DS platform cost a third of that.

Bigger development costs sounds ominous to me. I wouldn’t be amazed to see 3DS titles going for $50 apiece at launch.

[Via 1UP]