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Forums - Sony - How much money Sony really lost with the PS3

DieAppleDie on 20 April 2013
the2real4mafol said:
shakarak said:
How much is Sony losing on every Vita though? That's the question I want to know now.

According to this article they profit on each Vita sold by a decent amount.

~http://www.egmnow.com/articles/news/how-much-does-it-cost-sony-to-build-the-vita/



thats just raw manufacture, shipping and packing as well as adverstising cost o lot by themselves and arent included.



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Mr Puggsly on 20 April 2013
CGI-Quality said:
sidious164 said:

The ps3 was a failure. This is already known. Will probably sell more than the 360 which the sony fans claim is a victory, but they fail to realise that the ps3 cost sony billions and no profit, which makes it the ultimate failure.

Glass half empty perspective. On the other foot, to some, it must ache, just a tad, knowing that Sony's worst console will still outsell Microsoft's best.

Anyway, in regards to financials, no doubt the PS3 is a serious thorn in Sony's side. However, their current future looks far brighter than the pre-release days of the system, and with mistakes should come learning + improvment. So far, they're on the right track.

I don't think it aches nearly as much knowing Sony had to sacrifice billions of dollars just so it could out perform the 360. Sony essentially bought second place but won't taste it until next gen platforms are out. Now that is pitiful given the success of PS2.

If MS really cared for the 360 to stay ahead of PS3 they would have cut the price years ago.



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Mr Puggsly on 20 April 2013
ASStronaut said:
Nintendo Wii took a shit on PS3 and XBox 360 in terms of profits last gen.

Good, they probably need more money than anticipated to make people care about the Wii U.



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Mr Puggsly on 20 April 2013
PlaystaionGamer said:
sidious164 said:

The ps3 was a failure. This is already known. Will probably sell more than the 360 which the sony fans claim is a victory, but they fail to realise that the ps3 cost sony billions and no profit, which makes it the ultimate failure.


from a gamers perspective it wasnt. sony but out more and the best exclusives duruing this gen. 

Gamers perspectives don't pay the bills.

Also Sony didn't put out the best exclusives. Gears and Halo were published by MS.



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Mr Puggsly on 20 April 2013
trunks said:
Without the PS3, Sony wouldnt have won the High definition optical disc format war. Now they make money off every Blu-Ray disk sold thanks to PS3.

Did they anticipate Bluray would be as big as DVD? Because that isn't gonna happen. Physical movie sales have declined significantly since 2006.

They won a war much of market has moved away from. Hence, much of money went as well.



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DanneSandin on 20 April 2013
slowmo said:
DanneSandin said:
2 things has to be admitted; PS3 did in fact an incredible come back after it's fiasco of a launch. It did quite poorly to begin with, but turning that ship around, and now being a VERY close third is very impressive. That's one thing

The other thing we have to admit is that PS3 cost Sony A LOT of money. It's profitable now, and it'll continue to make money for some years to come, but it'll never TRULY offset the money that it lost. It might have earned back every cent and dime it initially lost, but it will never be a big financial success. Never. It has lost too much money for that.

What we as gamers all can hope for, is that Sony learned a great deal of things by the PS3; let's hope PS4 kicks ass!


We keep getting told that it did so awful at the start yet launch aligned we are also told it outsold the 360 so it obviously was never that bad to begin with.  Its a lie spread by Sony fans to make the situation appear worse than it was.  

That's actually a pretty good point!!



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Scoobes on 20 April 2013
Mr Puggsly said:
CGI-Quality said:
sidious164 said:

The ps3 was a failure. This is already known. Will probably sell more than the 360 which the sony fans claim is a victory, but they fail to realise that the ps3 cost sony billions and no profit, which makes it the ultimate failure.

Glass half empty perspective. On the other foot, to some, it must ache, just a tad, knowing that Sony's worst console will still outsell Microsoft's best.

Anyway, in regards to financials, no doubt the PS3 is a serious thorn in Sony's side. However, their current future looks far brighter than the pre-release days of the system, and with mistakes should come learning + improvment. So far, they're on the right track.

I don't think it aches nearly as much knowing Sony had to sacrifice billions of dollars just so it could out perform the 360. Sony essentially bought second place but won't taste it until next gen platforms are out. Now that is pitiful given the success of PS2.

If MS really cared for the 360 to stay ahead of PS3 they would have cut the price years ago.

They didn't have to though. If they didn't overengineer it so they had a ridiculous selling price at launch it almost certainly would have sold more and generated far more revenue and profit. Sony shot themselves in the foot yet they still managed to sell a decent number of consoles and stay relevant in the market.




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TheBlackNaruto on 20 April 2013

Some good informative responses in this thread...others...not so much. AS a Sony/Playstation fan, I am am quite please with the PS3 as far as a gaming machine goes. They BY FAR(IMO) gaming wise blew the competition out of the water this gen. And for a consumer/gamer to come back from such a HORRID start and claim 2nd place and COULD even take first place is an amazing comeback. And even though the PS3 indeed cost them billions the company AS A WHOLE was falling apart even before hand.

But now looking at them they seem to be off to a better start and on the right track. Down sizing which is good(and bad because it costs people their jobs). Selling off assets, the Xperia Z is doing GREAT for them. The PS3 is no longer costing them billions. Gaining market share back, lots of positive news so far towards the PS4. They are not looking all that shabby right now if you ask me.

There is no denying the PS3 cost them and it was a HUGE mistake on their part and they learned from it and they are moving FORWARD....why everyone insists on looking backwards is beyond me. ALL THIS IS KNOWN....so how about we just wait and see where they go from here....just my two cents....



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Ljink96 on 20 April 2013

I guess it doesn't matter how powerful your system is. If you can't make decent profit off of it why sell it? This will ultimately be what stops the PlayStation console line. I love me some PlayStation but they have to get their priorities straight.



thismeintiel on 20 April 2013
DirtyP2002 said:

I just wanted to makle sure everybody gets that the PS3 was and is a financial nightmare for Sony. And the denial in this thread shows that it was neccessary to do so. Even if the PS3 manages it past the Wii, Sony still lost this gen, because Nintendo made a shitload of money with it. Heck even MS made way more money with the 360 than Sony with the PS3.

I think that your denial that the estimate is probably a billion or two off is quite humorous.  In the end, when taking only the PS3's losses and profits (and not other devices put into that division), it will most likely break even, or come extremely close to it.  And by "in the end," I mean when it stops selling.  Not looking at a snapshot ~3-4 years before it stops selling and all the profits Sony makes off of it ceases to come in, as you have done.  And sorry, as much as you continue to shout it in the future, if Sony manages to pass the Wii, the PS3 will be looked back as the winner of this gen.  People look at total consoles sold, not company financials, when making that decision.