Sony loses $18 per console in US, possible profit in UK

[Scruff7]

Sony now loses $18 for every PS3 sold

February 4th, 2010 at 1:14 pm -

Although the PlayStation 3 Slim has prompted a resurgence in Sony’s home console business, prompting 10.8 million PS3 sales in just nine months, the console is still losing money for the company. At least, the console’s hardware is losing money, since software sales turn this into a profit. However, this hardware loss is nowhere near as significant a loss as it used to be.

Following the console’s price-cut to $299 in the US and the release of the revised hardware with the PS3 Slim, Sony has been able to reduce it’s loss to $18 on each console sold in the US. Although it’s harder to work out in the UK with 17.5 per cent VAT to think about, with the higher price and the current dollar-to-pound exchange rate, it wouldn’t be out of the question to suggest that the console is turning a profit in Britain.

This piece of information is found within an interview with Sony’s Chief Financial Officer Nobuyuki Oneda, who explained that the company expects to continue reducing the production costs of the PS3 by 15 per cent by March 31st 2011, which is expected to result in “tens of billions of yen.” It was then revealed that Sony loses approximately six cents for every dollar of PS3 hardware sales, or $18 for every $299 console sold in the States.

This means that with the console’s approximate attach rate of seven games per console, the company is now earning a healthy profit on the PS3’s combined hardware and software sales.

Source: http://www.playstationuniversity.com/sony-now-loses-18-for-every-ps3-sold-2375/

So if this is the case, and Sony make about $8 to $10 per game, they need to sell 2 games per console to cover the loss. Although they may be getting more for 1st party games and PSN downloads.

I find it interesting that Sony may actually be turning a profit on each console sold in the UK, could that mean profit in Euro nations too?