misterd said:
The 360 costs have been dropping, and reportedly MS was making a profit off each sale, at least before the latest price cut. So I would guess a Core/Arcade system is running MS just under or just over $200 right now. With the PS3, we know it originally cost over $800 to make, but those costs have been cut considerably, which is why the PS3 can now be sold for $400. My guess is that the PS3 is likely down to $450-500, and could be closer to $400 next year, which would allow Sony to cut price. |
PS3 never cost $800 to manufacture. The initial run of 5mio PS3s liekely had production costs of around $840 as set by Sony. Notice that when we talk about manufacturing costs and production costs in the industry, these are two different things (though production costs obviously include manufacturing costs).
Both XBox360 and PS3 are standard, mass produced industrial gadgets as far as manufacturing processes are concerned so it is relatively easy to guesstimate manufacturing costs (on the 10% level) if one knows what is inside and what manufacturing processes are needed to build these gadgets. If we assume that both gadgets are manufactured within standard industry conditions and procedures, manufacturing costs for an Xbox360 are about $250, and around $350 for a PS3 currently. Future manufacturing costs are very difficult to estimate at these times but will ikely remain the same, as (relatively small) gains in reduced key components (CPU, GPU) will be offset by higher raw material and general manufacturing costs.
