naruball said:
I'm afraid I don't. Maybe someone else can help. The irony of me asking for a source and then not having one to provide myself doesn't escape me. Edit: googled it http://www.dualshockers.com/2014/05/22/kaz-hirai-the-ps4-is-already-profitable-with-hardware-alone/ |
Thanks, though it's acutally a misquote or mistranslation. It's from the same meeting of May 22nd where every other media account of the meeting quotes him as saying
Reported by Japanese site AV Watch (via NeoGaf), a Sony representative provided GameSpot a translation for one of Hirai's most interesting statements from the meeting. "From a profitability perspective," Hirai said, "PS4 is also already contributing profit on a hardware unit basis, establishing a very different business framework from that of previous platform businesses." It's a slightly roundabout quote, but that statement essentially says that the PS4 is already profitable, unlike previous console generations that are typically sold at a loss for their first few years.
So he didn't really say what Dual Shockers said. What he said is that each PS4 sold contributes a profit to Sony already, whereas systems like the PS3 took years of game purchases before they made money off a game consumer. They've never really given a breakdown, but they have implied the improved business model of PS4 is a combination of more off-the-shelf parts, no expesive new tech (like Bluray) and the addition of network subscriptions. It's a great business model, I just hate that we as consumers are so blind to costs when they are spread out.
