Dallinor on 14 September 2008
| mrstickball said: Sony most likely subsidizes the Online service as a way to get more Playstation gamers online, in hopes that they purchase the more expensive Sony-driven software such as GT5P, Warhawk, Siren, and PS1 titles, whereas Microsofts' offerings are far smaller and cheaper (however has far more content). I'd say that Sony most likely loses a little bit of money on the service (not a ton), and Microsoft makes quite a bit off of it. However, we don't know how much Microsoft actually makes off Gold - Many players use discounted retail membership cards that are lower than $40 USD, which makes me think that Microsoft does not sell the cards for an insane amount to retailers, but makes quite a bit off direct-credit purchases off of XBL itself for memberships. If I were to estimate, I'd say Sony is losing around $50-100m a year, and Microsoft is making around $250m a year from XBL between downloads and gold passes. Expect it to jump when Netflix integrates their service with Microsofts' |
50-100 million annually is a little bit of money?
