Analyst: PS3 a Crutch to the Blu-ray Market

[starcraft]

BMaker11 said:

 

Actually, I think it is worth it, because with a Blu-ray victory, some of the profits made on each disc sold will go to Sony. And since the movie market is WAY bigger than the gaming market, that equates to $$$$$. More than enough to recoup any development costs, and seeing as the PS3 production cost has already been halved in only a year, it easy to come to the conclusion that the hardware itsself will become profitable soon (They DID just release an article this week saying how it may be profitable by August). And gaming dominance wasn't sacrificed, imo. The PS3 still has great games on the platform, just that some went multiplatform, but with it's rising popularity, and the 360 seeming to peak, your perceived "sacrifice of gaming dominance" becomes negligible if they come out on top again, right? Not saying that because of BR, the PS3 will mystically outsell the Wii, but, well, when BR becomes mainstream like DVD along with the PS3 being at a prime price point....you just may see the Wii get beat out.

Optimistically, that won't be for a while from now, though

The profits made on each disc sold go to the Blu-Ray disc association, a small amount of which then goes to Sony.  However, in addition to paying their share of the bribes and R&D cost, Sony was forced to disproportionately sacrifice their business interests by gimping the PS3's chances.  The PS3 fanboys keep reminding us how well the PS3 would have done if it had launched a year earlier at $399, and without Blu-Ray, it would have.

Also, there is no evidence that Sony has cut production in half at all, there was a speculatory article by Isupply that was widely discredited.  As you yourself just acknowledged, another hardware analyst stated that with no more price drops, Sony could break even on hardware by August.  Microsoft's scope to cut price would also be substantially higher than Sony's.

The Xbox 360 is outselling itself year over year, and the PS3 is outselling it at a rate that would have it catch up in three years (two years if you assume extra sales over holidays).  As for the Wii, it is absolutely PAWNING the PS3.  Sony sold 120 million PS2's (and are still selling).  But as all games the PS3 gets will be multiplatform with the 360, and most of the third party support will go to the Wii, the PS3 will have a shorter life-cycle than the PS2, and sell perhaps less than half what the PS2 did.  That my friend, is sacrificed gaming dominance.