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Forums - Sony Discussion - PSVita consists of $159 worth of materials? PSVita's Guts Inside!

A small loss on hardware is no biggie because when you factor in peripherals and games they should end up making money. Someone who goes and buys a vita, memory card and a game undoubtedly made sony money.



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Tridrakious said:
IIIIITHE1IIIII said:
Tridrakious said:
IIIIITHE1IIIII said:
Tridrakious said:
Well this would show Sony doesn't need to cut the price. Why cut the price when you are profiting on each unit sold. Sony can not....can not be that stupid.

If they are making profit, use that profit to market the system and MAKE MORE GAMES. I have no problem spending $250 for the WIFI only model right now.


Umm... Nintendo did cut the price despite selling on profit lol. You're missing the obvious.


Nintendo jumped the gun are their price cut. Nintendo expected remade ports of N64 games to sell the system for the first 7 months on the market. They didn't, even with the $80 price cut. It wasn't until Mario came to the rescue...oh and the holiday shopping season.

Vita does not need to have a price cut. Japan needs games targeting japanese gamers. There haven't been much at all in the way of what made the PSP a success there. Uncharted, Resistence, Motorstorm, LittleBigPlanet and Call of Duty will drive the Vita in the NA and EU markets. But Vita needs Final Fantasy and Monster Hunter for the Japanese market to erupt for PS Vita. (considering I don't think Sony will get Dragon Quest back).

If Sony is making a profit off of the PS Vita then they need to keep the price. Sony as a whole needs to be focusing on the returning to MAKING MONEY instead of losing it. Vita needs games. 3DS is falling like a rock post holidays, just like every other system on the market. Despite every system being cheaper now (minus the 360) than last year.

Games sell systems. Nintendo has always made a profit on the systems. They cut their price shortly after E3 because when everyone walked away from that event. Everyone was talking about how Sony nailed the price of the Vita. Sony had a perfect conference with the Vita last year. There was actual pressure on Nintendo to do something to guarantee they wouldn't lose a market they have dominated since they entered it.

The question leaving E3 was, "Can the 3DS hold off the Vita with them priced at the same $250 price point?". I remember looking through multiple sites that stated Vita will beat the 3DS (this was before the $80 price cut and the only game on the market worth anything was The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D though). Even after the price cut for the 3DS the system didn't start flying off the shelves.

Nintendo needed to do something to not lose this segment of the market. If they didn't act, Vita would have stomped on them. What I see is Nintendo can't compete when they come to Sony's or even Microsoft's turf.


As you said, Nintendo realized that they had to cut the price as the current games out for it wouldn't sell hardware while at the same time there were no huge system seller coming out for the near future. To reach their predictions (which was their main goal) they also had to rush out Mario Kart 7, as they feared that Super Mario 3D Land wouldn't be enough to push sales. Where it not for the price cut AND Mario Kart 7, Nintendo likely would have sold less systems than initially predicted. The price cut was necessary!

It doesn't seem to much different with the Vita. No Japanese best sellers are gonna be released in the near future, and if the Vita doesn't want to end up like the Gamecube (slow start; no penetration to the masses) they are likely gonna have to cut the price, just like many retailers already have. This is extra important now that the 3DS has Monster Hunter on top of that price.


A PS Vita price cut will happen, but it will not be within the first year and will not be a knee jerk reaction to the Japanese market. The games that are coming in the short term are geared towards the NA and EU markets (FPS's, TPS's and Racing games). This is the problem with the Japanese market. They have lost how to make stellar games in a short amount of time.

Uncharted: Golden Abyss was made in a little bit under a year. Developement started in 2011 and finished in 2011. It's the best reviewed game for the Vita so far (I haven't checked in about a week or two though, might have changed). Sony is making a strong profit in Japan. Things will turn around once the games come.

Nintendo had a knee jerk reaction and (as you said) rushed games.


Uncharted: G A was developed in under a year? you sure about that? cuz in January 2011 they showed of a whole level of it. and the full gameplay... I dont think they made that in just...less than a month? :P really



thekitchensink said:
Shinobi-san said:
thekitchensink said:
This may be true, but they are still losing money. It still costs them money to ship it, and the $250 is how much customers are charged--the store pays Sony less than that.

Plus, if Nintendo's taking a loss at $170 on the 3DS, Sony are definitely taking one for the Vita.


You can't really claim that with a 100% certainty though...sony have also said themselves that they do not plan on selling the vita at a loss. However the more latest comments suggests that they are selling it a loss but only slightly for the wifi model at least. I dont see them selling the 3g model at a loss though.

Also, as far as i know the 3DS has not been confirmed to be selling at  loss, or has it?

You do make a fair point, but I just can't see them making $110 profit per system--there is just no way.

3DS was selling at a profit at its launch price of $250, but Nintendo stated that they're now taking a loss.  It's the main reason why they posted their first annual loss ever in the history of the company.

Not for a second did i think Sony were making a profit of $110! But my original post was to say that there might be a slight chance that sony were profiting slighlty on the 3G units. However as many have said in this thread it seems as though, in western regions atleast, that they are not making any profit. I think they would have announced it at some point if they were.

I wasnt arguing against the fact that there are other costs involved though. I was also unaware that it had been confirmed that both PSV and 3DS were being sold for a loss, my bad :)



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Tridrakious said:

Uncharted: Golden Abyss was made in a little bit under a year. Developement started in 2011 and finished in 2011. It's the best reviewed game for the Vita so far (I haven't checked in about a week or two though, might have changed). Sony is making a strong profit in Japan. Things will turn around once the games come.


... No chance at all that Uncharted:GA was made in under a year. When it was shown in January 2011 it was clearly pretty far along, it had already been in development for months and months. I would guess maybe 18 months for development.



Turkish says and I'm allowed to quote that: Uncharted 3 and God Of War 3 look better than Unreal Engine 4 games will or the tech demo does. Also the Naughty Dog PS3 ENGINE PLAYS better than the UE4 ENGINE.

chris212223 said:
ZaneWane said:
Shinobi-san said:

whaaaat? i thought Sony was selling these bad boys for a loss :O

they are  http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/110862-Sony-Will-Lose-Money-on-Vita-Hardware-Sales 

3 YEARS!! =O

Obviously they are making a profit per vita sold and that will earn back the capital invested in 3 years ,  because if they were making a loss on every sale they would actually be deeper in debt in 3 years. so we are looking at two types of profitability ,one per vita sold and second overall profit on the brand one leads to the other.



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$3 for a Battery??

This article lost all the credibility after that. A battery should cost at least $20, probably even more.



Well it makes sense. They found the 3DS parts cost about 80-100 and that's going for $170. I imagine once a company makes up for R&D costs they drop the price.



Onibaka said:
$3 for a Battery??

This article lost all the credibility after that. A battery should cost at least $20, probably even more.

Maybe if you're buying it individually at a store, which would include a small mark up from the manufactorer's price.  You have to remember that all of these things are being bought in large quantities, directly from manufactorers, so the prices will be quite a bit lower.

@ OP

I think he may be lowballing some of the prices, but probably not by too much.  This shows that Sony is probably aking a little profit in Japan, and will probably be breaking even or maybe taking a very small loss in the US and EU.  I also wouldn't be too surprised to see a small cut right before the holidays that shouldn't hurt Sony too much.  Well, if the Vita drops like it did in Japan in the US/EU, anyway.



Onibaka said:
$3 for a Battery??

This article lost all the credibility after that. A battery should cost at least $20, probably even more.


No.

You pay $20+ for a lithium battery in store....But cost to Sony is approx $5, give or take 2 bucks.

 

 

That said, I don't believe all of their estimates either, such as $19 for a 4 core processor...that doesn't seem to add up.



The cost break down seems wrong, and it doesn't look at the Yen cost either which is the number SONY really care about. Personally i think the Wi-Fi version is ~$180 and the 3G ~$190 for parts, add in labor, shipping, external costs and its probably about ~$240 (Wi-Fi), ~$260(3G) to get the Vita into a store, assuming the store makes $5-$15 per unit the Wi-Fi version is probably break-even or a small loss after currency exchange while the 3G version should generate a small profit.

Still i think SONY would of been better off dropping the 3G, Camera's, Sixaxis parts(Gyroscope, motion senses) and saving $15-20 on the total cost (which might of also allowed them to launch at $199 to break even with game sales.