A Very Interesting Read on How Much Games Make...

Ever wonder how much money a game makes? How they're budgeted and supported? Sometimes developers work on one thing when the crowd want something else, things get prioritized based on market trends, resources and viability (steady state).

Some very interesting insight here on how the financials work. It isn't a complete view but it breaks down the main components. A quote:

"This post is more for indie developers who want to know how much money things make.

First some basics on game budgeting:

Every person on your game you should budget at $10,000 per month. It’s a good rule of thumb.  
You should target a 25% “profit” on your game to cover the unexpected as well as for future growth  
Steady State income represents the gross income of your game without sales, promotions, new releases, etc.  
Steady state takes 6 months to eliminate the “new game” anomaly.  
You need to take opportunity cost into account when budgeting (am I better off working on this versus that?)  
Opportunity cost is hard to calculate and is what kills most studios long-term.  

The steady state of LH is $40,000 per month...."