Sony have already won...

[krik]

crumas2 said:

SlorgNet said:
Sony and Nintendo are both winners in this generation of consoles. Microsoft is in a pickle, because it has yet to recoup the $6.5 billion it has lost since launching the Xbox line, or to reclaim the 31% market share it had as recently as 2006.

Also, it's too easy to bash the PS3 for being pricy and for losing Sony billions. The billions were well-spent, in the form of a top-notch media player - for every yen Sony loses on a PS3, it gains three back in the form of TVs, electronics and BluRay discs. The PS3 is part of an integrated media strategy, it's not a standalone product.

MS has over $100 b in cash reserves.  Why do you feel they need to recoup their losses in the games division?

 $100 billion? I'm not sure where you got that number from but from their balance sheet the number is not even close to $100B. According to the balance sheet MSFT cash reserve (Cash and Cash Equivalents + Short Term Investments) is "only" $23B. 

 Here's the link: http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bs?s=MSFT&annual

 But I agree that MS does not need to recoup the $7B loss from their Xbox division but the same can be true for Sony. Sony's cash reserve is at $11B (http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bs?s=SNE&annual=) so they should be fine too. The big difference is that Sony will most likely recoup a large chunk, if not all, of the over $2B losses from PS3 while MS has no chance to recoup the $7B at all. Also, please remember that Sony's lifetime PlayStation business is still $2.8B in the BLACK.