| welshbloke said: Maybe it is because people cannot get their heads round 3 successful consoles that we always need to talk about one or other having to give in one place or other. I think before the slim and during Sony's financial troubles Sony may have considered leaving the Games hardware business. They rode it out though and I cannot see any reason they would want to give up now in the US or anywhere for that matter. |
Couldn't agree more. Before the Slim's success I was one of those that thought things looked extremely grim for PS4 but the redesign has sold well and brought Network Products and Services closer to quarterly profitability. That definitely makes PS4 more of a possibility.
But . . . I still wonder if this whole PS3 endeavor will be something that stockholders feel was worth it. The PS2 sold more than any console in history, but it wasn't the most profitable. In fact, the loss leader approached basically allowed the PS3 to completely wipe out all of the profits of the highest selling console in history.
For those that say the PS3 is finally profitable (and to a lesser degree, the 360) are not looking at the whole picture. While neither lose are losing money (as far as we know), the losses incurred in the previous years for the respective projects has NOT been compensated for. While this is bad for both Sony and MS, it is worse for Sony because the rest of the company does not pull in profits on the level of the rest of MS. What this basically means is Sony can't afford to have their gaming division be a financial burden on the rest of the company (ironically there were some MSFT stockholders that wanted them to leave the gaming business due to low profit margins even though its doing better than Sony). Global economic problems and the current increased value of the Yen only make this situation more dire for Sony stockholders.
Many here are too emotionally tied to their consoles to see this. I was once there too with Sega but learned some harsh lessons about business and economics. The next generation of consoles is completely up in the air. The only company that UNQUESTIONABLY will be there next gen is Nintendo, because gaming IS their business and they've increased so much from last gen. MS is likely simply because they more than doubled (or will soon) their userbase from last gen and attained profitability early enough to make up for most losses incurred. Sony, to stockholders, doesn't have as rosy a picture to paint compared to their competitors.
But if 3DTV takes off and makes the company a ton, maybe the gaming losses won't look so bad anymore ...
