PlayStation 3-related Losses Hit $4.7 Billion

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If they sold 100 million console. Thats $50 loss per consol to get 5 billion.
 

phexac

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That's a good point that the numbers for the losses do not add up. It's way too high a loss per system sold, which simply cannot be the case. There could be other factors in there that we do not know about, likely a good deal of creative accounting going on to save Sony on taxes.

Additionally, I think their profits from blu-ray winning over HD-DVD make any actually losses they incur worthwhile. I strongly doubt the actual financial situation with PS3 is nearly as bad as this article seems to suggest. Between tax write-offs due to supposed losses, blu-ray as the only HD format, and whatever other factors we do not know about, I think PS3 isn't working out too badly for Sony.
 

Kelavarus

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[citation][nom]indran1412[/nom]Its actually 56 %[/citation]

Geez. People need to stop quoting a poll from a magazie.

I don't really care what the statistics really are, as I'm a PC gamer, not a console gamer, but citing some poll of 5,000 magazine subscribers is not really the greatest of sources.
 

millerm84

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Some reasons the math doesn't add up is:

1. Retail price doesn't include retail markup that the retailer gets
2. These numbers don't take into account any if at all tariffs sony pays
3. May or may not include marketing costs as "operating costs" of the product.
 

indran1412

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[citation][nom]Kelavarus[/nom]Geez. People need to stop quoting a poll from a magazine.I don't really care what the statistics really are, as I'm a PC gamer, not a console gamer, but citing some poll of 5,000 magazine subscribers is not really the greatest of sources.[/citation]

nah , i read it from trusted online source. actually , u don't expect me to ask every 360 users about their console success rate?
btb, 40% or 56%, 360 still has the highest failure rate than PS3.
 

indran1412

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[citation][nom]ukgooey[/nom]This is all about who released that gen of console first. The PS2 came out and everyone got an erection and didn't bother with the XBOX when it released. MS got wise to this and released a poor quality, quickly knocked up shitty quality XBOX 360 that RROD'd for everybody who got one, with a long term plan to just fix them (or not) under guarantee. Then nobody bothered with a PS3.Clever Billy eh? I had to send my 360 back to him twice. And didn't get a PS3. So his plan for world console domination worked. For now.Most likely we'll see the same scenario again at the release of the next generation.[/citation]

Except if Sony and Nintendo learned their lessons
 

city_zen

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[citation][nom]slapdashzero[/nom]4.7 Billion? Haven't they sold less than 100 million units? And since billion is 1,000x a million, they've lost $500 or more per system?[/citation]

Your arithmetics are wrong.
4.7 billion $ (that's 4,700,000,000 $) / 100 million units (that's 100,000,000 u) = 47 $/unit sold
 

bin1127

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[citation][nom]Kelavarus[/nom]Geez. People need to stop quoting a poll from a magazie.I don't really care what the statistics really are, as I'm a PC gamer, not a console gamer, but citing some poll of 5,000 magazine subscribers is not really the greatest of sources.[/citation]


but it's better than getting a colonoscopy because a 500 person study said so. We're making progress.
 

tenor77

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Ummmm thank you sir may I have another?

[citation][nom]pharge[/nom]Same as Sony! Sony was doing this to compete for the "Blu-ray" and they won! Though they are/were lossing money from PS3 but they are gaining them back from Blu-ray associated profits.[/citation]

They won the battle but they haven't won the war. At least not yet.

I have 3 1080p TV's and I'm still on the fence about replacing my entire DVD collection. I'm waiting for a re-release of LOTR and a Re-re-re-release of Star Wars before I honestly think about making the jump and by that time who knows what things will look like.

I can download a 1080p movie off my 360/zune marketplace for cheaper than a new blueray though HD space is still a premium, hence me on the fence but with 720 streaming and DVD upconverting, even with my love of tech I just don't feel the need to jump.
 

tester24

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I know these machines are just specialized PCs whats from stopping them to create a cheap compact PC and market it as a gaming system. Partner with Dell or Asus or someone with PC building experience (so you don't have heat issues) and just use off the shelf stuff. Well they could build their own processors (because the original Xbox's monitory problems was because they used an Intel chip and Intel wanted crazy amounts of royalties).

Main reasons for this, you can use off the shelf products, RAM, CDROMS, Power Supplys, etc. Hell servicing would be a heck of a lot easier. So as stuff gets cheaper (like every damn day prices of stuff goes down) you're profits go up. You could make price cuts to the system earlier and get a larger following. Your losses wouldn't be measured in years but rather in months.

But alas I'm not an engineer or executive so what the hell do I know.
 

zmanz

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You can't make software sales on a machine that has no software worth having... And with its price being $300 (as per my last insight on the hardware costs) for the base model, and even less for the other two... Kinda makes sense to avoid something with horrible hardware optimizations that force it to be "optimised" - or "unlocked in performance" as $ony's head programmer called it - slowly over its total lifespan, there's no point in paying for a $300 George Foreman grill.
 

alextheblue

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[citation][nom]cookoy[/nom]if Sony hired me for $1m a year to sit in the office doing nothing, i could have saved them billions of dollars![/citation]You mean instead of releasing the PS3? Hmm... yes... that would have been a lot more cost effective.
 

kageryu

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[citation][nom]matchboxmatt[/nom]I think the business model of losing money on each unit sold and relying on software sales to recuperate doesn't work very well in the real world.[/citation]
It has worked quite well for Sony when the PS2 came out. They've been following it ever since PS1 was released. If this business strategy didn't work out, then SONY would have become bankrupt and ceased to exist years ago and Micro$oft would have continued to pump out XBOX 360s that RROD every few months and take over the high end video game system market.
 

climber

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[citation][nom]tenor77[/nom]Ummmm thank you sir may I have another?They won the battle but they haven't won the war. At least not yet.I have 3 1080p TV's and I'm still on the fence about replacing my entire DVD collection. I'm waiting for a re-release of LOTR and a Re-re-re-release of Star Wars before I honestly think about making the jump and by that time who knows what things will look like.I can download a 1080p movie off my 360/zune marketplace for cheaper than a new blueray though HD space is still a premium, hence me on the fence but with 720 streaming and DVD upconverting, even with my love of tech I just don't feel the need to jump.[/citation]

Throw in the ISP's bandwidth caps and you will be paying through the nose for all those movie downloads, in overage charges, whether they are through torrents or the Microsoft marketplace or the Playstation Store.
 
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