Farsala on 30 May 2024
The caveat is this is simply operating profit and loss on the year. So R&D for PS3 cuts into PS2s profits. As does every successor console. The 2 consoles where this isn't reflected is the PS1 due to the start of the year tracking in 1994 despite the PS1 undergoing R&D since the late 80s or early 90s. And the PS5, because it is too early for significant R&D for the PS6.
Basically PS2,PS3,PS4 numbers look a lot worse compared to PS1 and PS5 than they should.
The PS3 had more sales combined than the PS1 and PS2 combined, but profitability simply wasn't there. A small part of that was R&D for PS4.
