How much do cartridges cost?

[Yoss Fish]

Hi all,

I know that cartridges are much more expensive to manufacture than CDs. But
can anyone tell me how much more expensive they actually are? How much, on
average, does it cost a game manufacturer to stamp a CD, including only the
cost of the materials and the cost of the labor that does the actual stamping?
By comparison, how much does it cost a manufacturer to make a cartridge?

Thanks in advance for any replies.

(Yoss)

[A.C.]

Stamping is done by machines. I know that if you buy Cd's in massive bulk
they are like 15c or something. But if you are sony and you manufacture the
cd's aswell, it could be cheaper. So cd's are somewhere below 50c I would
guess.
On the other hand, I beleive a N64 cart costs aound $14(?) for a midsize
one, and it would go up for ones with more Rom space. I know that EA get's
theirs for less, and I would assume there is some deal with Rare.
As far as I know all this info is correct, but someone may have more
concrete answers.

[Ix]

>I know that cartridges are much more expensive to manufacture than CDs. But
>can anyone tell me how much more expensive they actually are? How much, on
>average, does it cost a game manufacturer to stamp a CD, including only the
>cost of the materials and the cost of the labor that does the actual stamping?
>By comparison, how much does it cost a manufacturer to make a cartridge?

Answer: It doesn't really matter. Both are overpriced by the time
they hit the shelves. If I really want a game, I'll wait 6 months or
longer for the price to hit a more reasonable $60, than pay the $100
straight away.

[Wen Hsieh]

Ix (ce...@achilles.net) wrote:
: Answer: It doesn't really matter. Both are overpriced by the time

: they hit the shelves. If I really want a game, I'll wait 6 months or
: longer for the price to hit a more reasonable $60, than pay the $100
: straight away.

Care to name one game, in any current system (barring imports) that cost
$100 in the last year?

BTW, do you believe a company has the right to make as much money as
possible on a product for as long as possible?

[Joshua Kaufman]

He's probably in Australia....

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[Ix]

>Care to name one game, in any current system (barring imports) that cost
>$100 in the last year?

How about Goldeneye ($99.99, maybe higher after first release)?

>BTW, do you believe a company has the right to make as much money as
>possible on a product for as long as possible?

That's sorta the point, no? But making money is one thing - assraping
the consumer by severely overpricing a product is something completely
different.

[Yoss Fish]

Ix wrote,

> Answer: It doesn't really matter.

It matters, to me, because I was curious. :)

Thanks to all who replied. I appreciate the information.

(Yoss)

[Nutz]

The cost of a Snes cart (cost of goods only) was aprox. $25.00 US. The cost of
goods on a N64 title varies with the amount of memory that in on the cart. What I
am hearing is aprox $25.00 to $30.00 US. The cost of goods on a PSX CD runs about
$0.50 US.

None of these costs include any royalities back to Nintendo or Sony

Ix wrote:

> >I know that cartridges are much more expensive to manufacture than CDs. But
> >can anyone tell me how much more expensive they actually are? How much, on
> >average, does it cost a game manufacturer to stamp a CD, including only the
> >cost of the materials and the cost of the labor that does the actual stamping?
> >By comparison, how much does it cost a manufacturer to make a cartridge?
>

[DeanKeyton]

Might as well jump in seeing no one has answered the question correctly yet.
The cost of the cartridge or cd (of the media itself) is part of the net cost
of manufacturing and packaging of the entire product. Third party developers
(EA, Rare, Eidos, etc.) pay a net cost of goods per unit to manufacture, which
also includes a royalty (to the hardware manufacturer) for the priviledge of
putting the game on their system. This net figure includes what it costs to
build each unit, inlcluding the media (CD or cart) and packaging (box,
shrinkwrap,etc.). Since all titles need to be encrypted, the manufacturing
and final packaging is handled by Nintendo and Sony for their respective
plaforms, regardless of who devlops, publishes, or distributes the title.
Sony charges around eight dollars per disk built, and (depending on the size)
Nintendo charges around 24 dollars per cart. CD's are indeed cheap (a buck
each) , which explains the substantial differential.
-dk