| ChronotriggerJM said: Why do people keep saying the gaming division is going to take hits >_>? As far as I know they're software brings in more money than they spend. And didn't sources say that they're just about at the breakeven point on the PS3? The money lost is not going to come back by axing area's of the gaming division. The losses on hardware are now a write off, all they can do now is keep what's profitable, and as I mentioned before, the gaming division brings in more money than they spend. They have how many employees in they're gaming division? I could have sworn someone mentioned roughly 4,000. So yeah, that's a great idea, axe some of the 4k employees that make money out of your 180k and see where that takes you, I'm sure it ends somewhere around shit's creek >_>; The thought of them putting a huge stress on the gaming division simply because they're angry that it lost money on hardware (which lets face it, isn't the software teams fault in the least) is preposterous! They want to put a big focus on software from here on out because I dunno (uhuhurhuurhrhrurhhrur) it makes money >_> |
Sony PlayStation 3 Still Loses Money for the Company.
The PlayStation 3 Costs $448 to Build – Teardown Analysis
[12/23/2008 01:05 PM]
by Anton Shilov
Despite of earlier reports that Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. managed to halve production cost of the PlayStation 3 video game console already in 2007, according to a recent teardown analysis, the console still costs $448 to build, thus, being money losing machine for Sony. Still, it is considerably lower cost than initially.
Back in 2006 Sony PlayStation 3 20GB and PlayStation 3 60GB video game consoles cost $805.85 and $840.35 to manufacture, respectively. At that time Sony sold its consoles for $499 and $599 and lost $306.85 and $241.25 on 20GB and 60GB versions hardware alone, respectively. This year the PS3 40GB costs $448.73 to build amid official pricing of $399 in the USA, hence, Sony loses “only” $49.73 per unit.
But the reduction of the cost came at a price: the currently available PlayStation 3 40GB is not compatible with PlayStation 2 games since Sony removed appropriate components from the console when it launched it early this year. The move was heavily criticized by PlayStation fans, but it did allow Sony to tangibly boost sales of the game machine because it helped to lower the price.
The removal of legacy as well as further optimization of the design allowed SCEI to dramatically reduce the amount of components: the original PlayStation 3 60GB featured 4048 different parts, whereas the PlayStation 3 40GB sports 2820 parts, according to iSuppli company's teardown results published by BusinessWeek web-site.
The most expensive component of Sony PlayStation 3, Nvidia’s Reality Synthesizer (RSX) chip, now costs Sony about $58, down from $129 two years ago. Another important chip inside the video game console, the Cell processor, costs $46, which is also about two times less than $89 initially. The reduction of the pricing should be associated with higher yields as well as thinner manufacturing technology. Initially the Blu-ray optical disc drive cost Sony $125, its current price remains unknown.
Teardown estimates do not usually include additional costs for elements including the controller, cables, packaging, freight as well as profit for resellers, such as Amazon.
It is ordinary for game console makers to lose money on hardware, and make up for the loss via video game-title sales. Still, the size of Sony’s loss per unit is still a pity, even for the video-game console business. It is expected that Sony may reach the break-even point with the PS3 in 2009.
http://www.xbitlabs.com/news/multimedia/display/20081223130548_Sony_PlayStation_3_Still_Loses_Money_for_the_Company.html
