Dno said:
Gamerace said:
This thread is too long to address all the different arguments so here's my two cents:
PS3 hardware & software, clearly will never earn a net profit. The already incurred loss is simply too great. PS3 would have to outsell PS2 and it's software would have to substantially outsells PS2's for this to happen. And after one year plus it's clear the PS3 will never reach PS2 sales.
Now if you include blu-ray then it really gets confusing since we really have no idea how much they make off that. Also you have to consider the sales of blu-ray players and even HD tvs that might sell because of blu-ray becoming the standard. All of which is impossible to quantify even for Sony.
Plus John Lucas is right, Sony put themselves into a hugely expensive fight with MS by deciding to aim the PS3 at the exact same market while ignoring Nintendo and the larger audience share. This fight will be a blood bath for them both. Both systems will see quarterly profits in time, but neither will earn a net profit this generation. MS might break even thanks to larger revenue streams, but it'll still be billions in the hole from the original xbox.
One thing I'm feel very confident about. You're seeing the end of the powerful, subsidized, loss leading console. If and when Sony & MS put their next gen system out, they'll ape Nintendo's highly profitable business model. Nintendo has never lost money, not even with the worse selling system. Why should Sony & MS continue to slowly bleed to death? Just so core gamers can be happy? I don't think so. |
Nikko Citigroup's Kota Ezawa estimates the games division will lose $1.4 billion this fiscal year, following last year's $2.1 billion loss. And while he doesn't expect the business to be prosperous until late 2009, Ezawa applauds Sony's efforts to shrink the PS3's chips and tweak its design. Already such changes have cut the cost per machine to around $400 now, from above $800 just before it went on sale in November, 2006, he says. (The PS3 with an 80-gigabyte hard-disk drive retails in the U.S. this means they cut making the ps3 buy 400 bucks... so next year expect it to be even cheaper so yes they will make money off their system... with PSN downloads Blu-rays and ps3 games they will. and id say very soon. |
They'll likely start to realize a profit at some point yes. But the question is a NET profit. Will they ever make enough money to offset the incurred losses? The total profit from the PS2 wouldn't have been enough to offset these kind of losses, and the PS3 is no PS2.
