Sony Has Lost More on the PS3 Than it Made on PS2

[xman]

Impulsivity said:
This is taking a narrow look at things.

Lets say Sony lost a few billion on the PS3, some would say they have to make that up ENTIRELY from PS3 revenue in the future, but that's not true.

A lot of the PS3 costs have come from the cell processor. That may seem like a bad investment at first but Sony is selling the processor to a lot more then video game consumers. It's now selling to a lot of research institutions and other locales that need high speed computing with extreme perfornace. It's also moving into servers and other Linux devices, a great fit because most serious server providers use Linux (ditto with most research institutions). I would estimate that Sony will easily turn a profit on the cell in general with any money for the PS3 being icing on the cake. They will also have to pay WAY less for the PS4 development since they'll almost certainly just use an updated version of the cell (which other video games can't use since it's a Sony owned tech).

Additionally a lot of costs have been from Blu Ray drives. Blu Rays are now about 15% of the HUGE DVD market and are gaining traction. How much do you think not repeating beta max is worth to Sony? I would say at least one or two billion. Using the PS3 to win the format war alone is worth at least as much as all the losses on the PS3 have been. They get royalties for every Blu Ray sold from every maker and every studio. When Blu Ray starts to become the dominant form of external media (probably in 3 or 4 years) Sony will look brilliant with its victory in the format war setting it up for at least a 10 year lock on external media formats.

Finally the PS3 has also sold other sony devices. Their TV sales are way up, partially I'm sure becuase more people need HDTVs for their HD systems; ditto with recievers and other products Sony makes. Most notably the PSP has started to pick up no doubt thanks to synergy with the PS3. I know I bought one mainly because of that feature. I can stream all kinds of stuff from my PS3 to my PSP (even some PS3 games) and that was a major reason for picking the PSP in the first place.

Sony is not Microsoft where the 360 is the ONLY game in town. Sony makes a ton of things most of which synergize with the PS3. Microsoft has flat out lost 6+ billion on the Xbox debacle, I guarantee you Sony is billions ahead across the 3 generations of the PS especially if extra revenue in other areas as a result of the PS brand is calculated in.

How can you say Sony losing money vs Mocrsoft losing money be ok. I agree with the Blue ray drive that was worth some money to win that.  MS got into it to stop Sony from taking over the entertainment hub which they have succesed in.  Also MS has been in the black for a few quarters and looks to make money on the 360 going forward.  They are also building there brand Xbox which from the sales they generated looks like they are succeding.

 

Neither company wants to lose money, NIntendo they make money from day one.