Firemint reveals $2m cost to develop Real Racing 2

The iPhone version of Real Racing 2 cost $2 million to develop over a period of 18 months, according to a new interview with Australian developer Firemint.

Speaking to Pocketful of Megabytes, media liaison Logan Booker did not reveal current sales figures for the title or the production costs of the recent iPad-specific version of the game.

In a 2010 interview with GamesIndustry.biz Firemint's Alexandra Peters commented that: "I think the days where you can do something quite simple, and do it on a small budget, are probably gone."

"These days with the amount of apps that are out there, and the increasing number of games coming out every day - and some of the really high-end developers who are now getting into it - I think if you're going to make an iPhone game and you want it to be commercially successful, you have to invest in it."

Speaking in November, Harvest Moon maker Marvelous suggested that the average cost of making a 3DS title would be around ¥70 million ($840,000), with the maximum being ¥100 to 150 million ($1.2 to 1.8 million).

In 2009 the average development cost for a Nintendo DS title was ¥4.4 million for low-cost titles and ¥44 million for "normal" games ($53,000 to $528,000).

With higher end iOS titles costing more to make and selling for considerably less than a traditional portable game, the gulf between commercially successful titles on the App Store is likely to widen further over the coming months.

In the same interview, Booker did not give specific sales figures for the PlayStation Move version of Flight Control - which has seen over 4 million downloads on the iPhone - but indicated that it had "definitely" been worth the effort.

"We're happy with its success – if you're looking for a game to explore the capabilities of the Move controller, Flight Control HD should be at the top of your list," he said.