Many games cost publishers several million dollars. Of course, there are plenty of low budget titles as well. Not great, but better than expected for such a small budget. This type of game is really hard to get placed in the retail stores. It is surprisingly difficult to get a game product on the shelves in a retail outlet.
Most retailers are flooded with more product then they have room for on the shelf.
Before retailers will stock your product, you need to convince them it will sell. The retailer wants to see the box design and will reject the product if the box doesn t look attractive enough. The retailer also wants to know what kind of advertising budget you have, if there is a free demo version of the game on the internet, how many times the demo was download, and any other information that will convince them your game will sell. It makes sense to me that a store wouldn t buy your product unless they thought it was a good product, but is most cases the store isn t buying the product. They only take it on consignment.