Sony Computer Entertainment: profit/losses timeline since 1996 to 2007

[famousringo]

bbsin said:

shams said:
I think Sony will lose around 100m for Q4 (Jan-March '08) - much lower PSP/PS2 sales, to less offset losses from PS3 hardware sales.

So fiscal '07-08 will end up around 1bn loss - first time has ever made losses two years running in their games division.

Both previous losses were relatively minor as well - totaling under 500m loss. The last two years will add almost 3bn in loss to the equation.

...

Sony/MS would *love* to emulate Nintendo's business model - but they can't. Nintendo makes money off SOFTWARE - Sony/MS make most off hardware (and licensing).

Neither of Sony/MS have the IPs to compete with Ninty - apart from a couple of big IPs (Halo, GT5, Everybodys golf?) - they just don't have the ammo. Only EA, Activision & Square Enix can get close.

Wrong way around. Nintendo makes most their money off of hardware, that's why they've never had a negative operating income. They (nintendo) gets roughly a $49 profit for every Wii they've sold and even more for DS. MS and Sony makes money based on the percentage of royalties and licensing generated from software companies and sales. Sony can emulate Nintedo's business model, but don't want to. They could have easily created a PS2.5 for $200 and sold MORE than the Wii at this point. As for Microsoft, their name in the videogame industry wasn't good enough after the Xbox so they had to push the technology and make a better reputation for themselves.

 Been paying attention to the weekly sales? Notice how Nintendo has been publishing more units of software than any other publisher for months now? There's a reason why some third party software publishers like to whine about how Nintendo consoles are only good for Nintendo.

And when a $50 game is sold and you get the licensing cut, the publisher's cut, and the developer's cut, that's a heckuva lotta dough.

It's obviously great for Nintendo that they make profit off their hardware sales, too, but they make way more cash off the copy of Metroid, SMG, Mario Party and Wii Play that a dude buys with his Wii than they do off the Wii itself.