Sony cant cut the price

[NJ5]

Groucho said:

The PS3 was/is a commitment. Researching a new console at this juncture is folly (money is far better spent making the current one cheaper and cheaper), and Sony will be making money from software AND hardware this coming year (2009).

They're not going to close up shop until the PS3 and 360, combined, hold less than 35% marketshare -- because, at that point, all 3rd party publishers would abandon the HD consoles altogether and make Wii games. 20 million consoles was close to how many the GameCube had at the end of its life, last gen. The PS3 is not the PS2, but Sony is far from going the "Sega route".

Indeed, the PS3 is a commitment like the PS2 was (the PS2 also lost money in its first year likely due to selling hardware at a loss). The difference is that the PS3 has already proven it won't make back the money it lost to the gaming division. This because it has lost more money than SCE made during the PS2 era. The PS3 isn't poised in any way to repeat PS2's success, therefore it won't make back the lost money (upwards of $4 billion and counting, perhaps more than $5 billion depending on how much PS2/PSP have been contributing).

If Sony was a smaller company, the PS3 could well have tanked it completely. Fortunately for Sony, the financial crisis didn't hit one or two years earlier, otherwise the remaining Sony divisions would have a much harder time covering up the PS3 hole.