| lestatdark said: I think it was about 400 - 450 dollars, don't really remember since i just got my PS1 late in 1997 |
It would have been less than that. Look at Sony's balance sheets from their entertainment back then -- Sony lost money the year the PS1 was launched, but that would be more likely due to costs associated with getting it up and going than the actual cost of the hardware.
I'm betting that when it launched, Sony made a small profit per unit. That means it would have had to cost them $240 or less because they still have to pay for retail space (in terms of selling the unit to stores for under retail cost), they still have to ship across the world, they still need to upkeep warehouses, etc.
[edit] Sony dropped the cost of the Playstation $199 less than a year after their North American launch, in May of 1996. And they were making a big profit.
In March of 1997, Sony dropped the price again to $149.
September 1995: $299
May 1996: $199
March 1997: $149
All the while Sony was making huge profits. That would basically like the PS3 getting a price cut to $249 last April and making a huge profit for Sony. What we're observing here is two things:
(1) The PS3 cost a lot more than the first Playstation to produce. Sony took much larger losses
(2) Sony could not cut prices, even percentage wise, nearly as fast for the PS3. Production costs are probably decreasing more slowly.
(3) These two points above will likely conspire to break the Playstation Brand's "10 year life span"
