Illya Arkhipova, on 05 January 2015 - 07:57 AM, said:
once the molds are made, those cost pennies to produce.
The in game models typically require a much large investment in time and funds to make the "original", that a TT mini does (crazy though it seems).
It depends. Molds for pewter minis aren't too terribly expensive, but then they cost more to make per model because pewter > plastic. And you have to re-make the molds periodically because they wear out.
Plastic molds are hella expensive, but then the minis are pennies each because, well, plastic. And the molds are essentially permanent because neither hot nor cold plastic damages a metal mold.
In the hobby games industry (read: low volume), pewter typically works out to be more efficient if you want a variety of different minis while plastic is more efficient if you want several colors of the same mini.
Note: my experience with miniatures for board games is 20 years out of date. It's possibly no longer true.