nordlead said:
well, currently there is no PS3 slim, so that doesn't add to this equation. People want a price cut on the current model. If they can cut costs and pass 100% of the savings on to the user, then obviously it wouldn't cause them to go in the red. As for making money on software, if we assume Sony makes $10/game and they take a $100 price cut, they need each user to buy ~10 games. Of course they have online content too, but so far the average is closer to 8 games per person. Also, take into account all those people who were willing to pay $400 and buy 8-10 games, and you are making less money overall. While they may make the money back in the long run, is it really worth sending yourself in the red for this year? Sony needs to prove to investors that they can make money, and I really think they are going to do that this year by not cutting the price unless they reduce costs on their end first and they can continue to forcast a profit. |
Here's the kicker though. Sony ISN'T forecasting a profit. They're still expecting to be quite far in the red by the end of the fiscal year and in the meantime they're expecting a 30% increase in PS3 sales over last year. Neither of these make sense if a price cut isn't coming. First of all, there is absolutely no way Sony is going to have shipped 13 million PS3s without a significant price drop. Then there's the fact that at a $40 loss per console, PS3 will most definitely be profitible by Q3 when the 45nm Cell chips roll out. If Sony has a Christmas season where they're making money off of every system they sell then I really can't think of a reason as to how they could be predicting such a huge loss for the fiscal year.
A price cut is the only answer.
