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Forums - Sony Discussion - Sony Recouping Hardware Losses THrough Software Price-Hike

twesterm on 04 February 2008

[Source Kotaku]

 

Sony Recouping Hardware Losses Through Software Price-Hike

Late last year, SCEE pushed a new 40GB model of the PS3 onto the European and Australian markets. Around the same time, the recommended retail price of Sony's first-party titles - which had since launch been slightly cheaper than those from third-parties - quietly went up, in Britain by a few pounds, in Australia by AUD$10. In case you couldn't previously put two and two together, one is the result of the other. SCE Australia (a subsidiary of SCEE, so it stands to reason the decision came from Europe) boss Michael Ephraim:

...as is well documented, PS3 has been a very expensive console to produce and sell. The losses are public knowledge. About six months into the year we realised we needed to increase our revenue on software to be honest. We're still in line with third parties, and it was just a business decision regarding profitability.

Cruel? Savvy? Necessary? Whatever, I'm just enjoying the man's honesty! It's like a breath of cool, crisp, mountain-fresh air.
Play hard [Screen Play] 

 



 

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DSLover on 04 February 2008

partly necessary, partly greedy ofc that applys to all businesses. A honest business is as rare as a dog who speaks



 

 

kingofwale on 04 February 2008

hey, do whatever they want, as long as they don't charge me more (the end user) for a game, I'm cool with that.

if the extra money goes to first-party develpers (Team Ico) for good games, more power to them.



Soriku (Feb 10/08): In 5 years the PS3/360 will be dead.

KH3 bet: "If KH3 comes to Wii exclusive, I will take a 1 month of sig/avatar by otheres open a thread apologize and praise you guys' brilliance." http://vgchartz.com/forum/thread.php?start=50&id=18379
Original cast: Badonkadonkhr, sc94597 allaboutthegames885, kingofwale, Soriku, ctk495, skeezer, RDBRaptor, Mirson,

Episode 1: OOPSY!
selnor: Too Human I even expect 3-4 mill entire life and 500,000 first day. GoW2 ( expect 7 - 9 million entire life and over 2 mill first day), Fable 2 (expect 5-6 million entire life and 1.5 mill fist day) BK3 (expect 4 - 5 mill sales entire life and 1 mill first day).. Tales/IU/TLR should get to 2 or 3 million! post id: 868878
Episode 2:
Letsdance: FFXIII (PS3+360) first week in NA = 286K
According to pre-order rate in week 13 (post id: 2902544)
twesterm on 04 February 2008
kingofwale said:
hey, do whatever they want, as long as they don't charge me more (the end user) for a game, I'm cool with that.


 Erm, that's what the article is actually about.



 

konnichiwa on 04 February 2008

When we (or I) were young we spend 50$ on games that you could finish a couple of hours so I don't have a problem with spending 60-70$ for a game now when I can play it for more than 10 hours...






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kingofwale on 04 February 2008

> Erm, that's what the article is actually about.

nothing in your post said anything about rising game prices.



Soriku (Feb 10/08): In 5 years the PS3/360 will be dead.

KH3 bet: "If KH3 comes to Wii exclusive, I will take a 1 month of sig/avatar by otheres open a thread apologize and praise you guys' brilliance." http://vgchartz.com/forum/thread.php?start=50&id=18379
Original cast: Badonkadonkhr, sc94597 allaboutthegames885, kingofwale, Soriku, ctk495, skeezer, RDBRaptor, Mirson,

Episode 1: OOPSY!
selnor: Too Human I even expect 3-4 mill entire life and 500,000 first day. GoW2 ( expect 7 - 9 million entire life and over 2 mill first day), Fable 2 (expect 5-6 million entire life and 1.5 mill fist day) BK3 (expect 4 - 5 mill sales entire life and 1 mill first day).. Tales/IU/TLR should get to 2 or 3 million! post id: 868878
Episode 2:
Letsdance: FFXIII (PS3+360) first week in NA = 286K
According to pre-order rate in week 13 (post id: 2902544)
twesterm on 04 February 2008
kingofwale said:
> Erm, that's what the article is actually about.

nothing in your post said anything about rising game prices.

 

twesterm said:
...

Late last year, SCEE pushed a new 40GB model of the PS3 onto the European and Australian markets. Around the same time, the recommended retail price of Sony's first-party titles - which had since launch been slightly cheaper than those from third-parties - quietly went up, in Britain by a few pounds, in Australia by AUD$10. In case you couldn't previously put two and two together, one is the result of the other. SCE Australia (a subsidiary of SCEE, so it stands to reason the decision came from Europe) boss Michael Ephraim:

...

 


 



 

Goddbless on 04 February 2008
kingofwale said:
> Erm, that's what the article is actually about.

nothing in your post said anything about rising game prices.

Did you read the whole thing or just skim through it?!



Love the product, not the company. They love your money, not you.

-TheRealMafoo

Darc Requiem on 04 February 2008

Well in Sony's defense, MS did the same thing. First party titles from MS retailed for $49.99 in the US initially but they quietly started retailing for the same $59.99 that third party games go for. Come to think of it, I think Gears of War was the first game to reflect that.



HappySqurriel on 04 February 2008

In the long run this is a good and bad move ...

Right now the increased revenue (probably between $100 and $200 Million per year) will cover the reduced revenue from slower PS2 game sales and keep the division from losing too much money. At the same time, the combination of a high system price, high (compared to previous generation) controller price, and high game price will discourage a lot of gamers from buying the system (or discourage gamers who own the system from trying unusual games).