these are "standarrd estimates" and real costs will vary greatly, of course. forbes said if the game gets into legal trouble, for example, the lawyer's fee will go through the roof and beyond the moon's orbit. advertising and marketing will also depend on how hard the publishers want to push their wares.

Actually, the number break down here (for the most part) is pretty far off. I'm not really sure who fed you your numbers, but I can assure you that publishers make far more than just a dollar per game sold (okay .. maybe Majesco only makes a dollar). I've been making games for over 6 years now, and in that time, I've worked for independent third party developers as well as publisher owned developers. Independent developers only get something like 4-5$ per game copy sold (if they are lucky -- this all depends on whether or not the publisher gave them advanced royalties), while the publisher will rake in something close to 12-15$ (Although this will typically include their manufacturing and marketing costs (which are not much)). Publisher owned developers get much more because they are one entity (this may be where they get their 27$ cost going to developers - in this case, it would make sense as the 27$ counts for marketing, publishing, development, manufacturing, etc.). The numbers for console manufacturers are about right. Franchise costs go either way. I've seen franchise holders that get up to 10$ per copy sold to those that get 1$ ... this one's up in the air. Retailers will typically make somewhere along 5-7$ per copy. All this to say, THE BULK OF THE MONEY GOES TO THE PUBLISHER. They take all the risks, they get most of the reward. That's the way it works in the real world.

Forbes ... really? Wow, my opinion of Forbes just dropped a little bit ...