Wii U vs PS4 vs Xbox One FULL SPECS (January 24, 2014)

[Viper1]

Andrespetmonkey said:

Viper1 said:

I arrive at the costs I did as follows:

The PS3 in Japan cost ¥59,980 at launch.  But it cost much more than that to build because of the Blu-ray drive and the CELL processor.  So Sony took a huge loss...even at ¥59,980.

If we were to remove the CELL and Blu-ray drive, they could have sold the PS3 at ¥59,980 and broke even.   Let's say the PS4 cost is like the PS3 costs only minus the expensive Blu-ray and CELL.   That would mean they could sell the PS4 in Japan for ¥59,980 and break even.  But if they did that, it would require the PS4 to be sold in the US for $766 to also break even using the current 78.6295 Yen to 1 USD exchange rate.

Does that make more sense now?

Yeah, thanks.

The problem I have is you're assuming I think the PS4 cost will be as you described. 

I think you're still slightly missing the point.   It's not about how much you or I think it will cost, it's about how different the exchange rate has changes since 2006.  This means we have to change our way of thinking how a console can and will be priced.

To be more specific, anything Japanese will have to sell at a far hgiehr price in foreign markets now than they did in 2006 to make the same margins (profit and loss).

 

Go back to what I posted at the Wii.
Wii 2006 in Japan = ¥25,000 = $205 (in 2006) and $320 (today).

That's a huge difference.  That means if the Wii were to launched today instead of in 2006, it would have to cost $320 in the US to make the same amount of profit or loss as it did back in 2006.  Launching it now at $250 (liek they did in 2006) would mean they take a $70 loss on every Wii sold in the US.

Do you see how that impacts the pricing now?