WilliamWatts said:
They didn't think they would do well? Honestly whats worth more to anyone, 11c per disc royalties or leadership of the console industry and billions of dollars per year profit? No rational mind would give up billions per year in profit. The opportunity cost here isn't the cost of PS3 vs possible royalties, its billions of dollars profit not made + losses made vs royalties at 11c per disc. |
They've gotten more than just disc royalties. If the PS3 is responsible for the disc royalties, that means you are saying the PS3 is responsible for Blu-Ray winning the format war. That means that the PS3 is also responsible for every cent of profit that Sony makes selling Blu-Ray players. Similarily, anything Blu-Ray related that profits, means the PS3 is responsible. The PS3 could also push a sizeable number of 3DTVs, which would be more profit attributable to the PS3. It isn't just about the royalties on the discs alone.
Now, I'm not saying Sony has made some masterstroke and will be earning billions per week. I'm saying that they took a calculated risk, which unfortunately for them went wrong. Even so, the PS3 could well end up profitable for Sony as a whole (hardware+software for PS3, Blu-Ray players, BD disc sales in the future, 3DTVs that sell because of PS3 etc) in the far future, just nowhere near as soon as Sony would have predicted (they probably thought within 10 years, whereas it will probably take 15, 20, 25+ years).
