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MDMAlliance on 01 September 2012
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Andrespetmonkey said:
MDMAlliance said:
Andrespetmonkey said:

A $50 loss on each PS4 wouldn't do anything to Sony. Every buyer will give them it back and more within 6 months of owning the system through game sales and subscriptions to PS+, netflix etc. $100 loss and they'd likely be fine too. Once you get to around $200 then it becomes dangerous, because they could run out of money before they start seeing a return, but like I've pointed out before a $400 console that breaks even could trounce the Wii U in technical capabilities.

edit: in 2013, and easily in 2014.


I don't really think so, unless the Wii U ends up selling for $249-300.  Sorry, didn't get how this was related.  Also, a $50 loss on each PS4 probably wont do much if it sells every PS4, but you failed to mention that if the PS4 doesn't sell very much, it's $50 per PS4 PLUS how much it cost to produce each PS4 that is being lost, on top of many other things.

If the PS4 doesn't sell much then they're screwed even if they make a $50 gain, because hardly any software will be sold and it probably won't make up for the R&D and other costs. Point is software is their main source of $, and software is not only the base games but now it's microtractions, PS+, app subscriptions (sony gets a share) skins/themes etc. and who knows what else next gen... So infact now they'll be even more inclined to take a loss on hardware because now there's even more ways to make it back through software.


How much the Wii U sells for will be a bit reflective of how much it will cost to provide the system by the time it comes out since they've pretty much said they'll be handling the Wii U like how they handled the price of the 3DS after the price cut.  So unless the Wii U sells between $249-300, then maybe selling at $400 will show a large enough difference in power if the other consoles release around 2013-2014 if they sell to "break even."  That's how it was related.

 

Also, selling at a $50 loss doesn't make the system THAT much more powerful.  I'm not arguing whether or not the PS4 will be more powerful than the Wii U since it's pretty much a given when Nintendo pretty much has made it their point that they aren't going for power while Sony's history would suggest they are more serious about providing power.  However, in order to sell the PS4 cheap and provide a large enough gap between the PS4 and Wii U,  they will have to either wait a long time, or sell for more than just a $50 loss per system.