So you walk into your favorite game retailer, whip out your money, and plunk down at least $60 down on the newest game that was just released that week. Sure, you're glad to have the game in your possession now, but dang, that $60 certainly left a sinking feeling in your chest. Have you ever wondered why games cost so much today? If you've always wanted to know, read the info - I find the funniest being the $7 console owner fee. Funny, I thought I owned the system after spending $600 dollars, but apparently not.

With the 20% price hike in PS3 and Xbox 360 games, gamers wonder exactly where it all goes. We hear it is because of the increase in production costs, but we still would like to know the breakdown of where our triplet of $20 bills gets sent. Now, Forbes has given us the skinny on the whole deal, explaining why games like Gears of War are priced at $60.

According to Forbes, $27 of the $60 taking its leave from your wallet goes toward the actual making of the game; $15 goes toward art and graphics while $12 goes toward gameplay mechanics. Other major price aspects are the 25% retail markup ($12 from a wholesale $48 per game) and console owner fee of $7 (Forbes says the PS3 is higher). All in all, the parties involved (retail and publisher) only get $1 for every game sold (publishers can boost it up to $3 per game if they sell advertising in the manual or as a pack-in pamphlet). This is, of course, before all those costs are paid up; after that, they can still make a nice profit at a $20 price point.

Read the full article over at joystiq.com