Ok, Sony has proven that they have a cast iron stomach when it comes to losses with the promise of future gain.  So I thought to myself with them losing around $200 by all accounts when the PS3 was released they are pretty much approaching the point where the could of released the Wii for free.

Now obviously this type of strategy would not work to get new technologies they are pushing into the home, but it would go a long way to dominating market share again. And they wouldn't have to give it away for free forever.

My idea is basically this, next gen they could probably produce a console similar to the PS3 in graphics and with the Wii-mote setup. Now the key here is going to be in advertising and stockpiling before launch.  Essentially they advertise that the first 10 million are free and the next 10 million are $50, and the next 10 million are $100  and then all of them after that are $150 with price cuts to come as normal.

Even if they spend $200 to produce and ship the unit, they don't have to package a game in which pretty much gauruntees that a lot of people are going to drop $50 bucks on a game even if they get one for free.

The downsides to this type of strategy are numerous however. First of all you could get consumers to a point where they expect this type of treatment at launch, but this might be a good thing for Sony as it could very well screw over Nintendo (ie disrupting the disrupter).  People could become angry with Sony for a lack of graphical increase. People could ignore the thing after the free units are gone. Backlash for directly copying Nintendo's controller. 

I'm sure there are a number of problems I didn't touch on but the idea itself is far from a polished idea and really something I just  thought up on the way home.  But I think this type of thing could be successfull if it was done properly. 

I would be very interested to hear any reasoning people would have for it not working or ideas people have that would make it better.  But please no fanboyish hatred, and try to stay objective...and on topic, thanks~ 

Wow I can't believe nobody has an opinion on this yet, I figured I would have been called an idiot or SOMETHING by now (which I am sure some smartass will help me out). Well I am going out for the night, if a discussion hasn't started by the time I stumble home then I'll let this RIP.

Ok, i think sqrl has had a tad bit to much of booze.

I think fair play laws would get in the way, tbh.

IMO if they could get passed fair play laws, then it would be better to sell the console at around £175, and say that for every game purchased along side the console the console drops 10% of it's price.

This would mean that someone could buy the console and 10 games for £400, not a bad deral (assuming games cost £40). Now, Sony would be happy becuase they would be getting £400 in revenue (say the console would cost around £250 to manufacture = ~ £150 in profit (assuming all games a first party for some reason), bargain hunters will be happy because it's a really good deal, dumbasses will be happy because they think they're getting a free console (assuming they buy the full 10 games), and developers/publishers would be happy because of huge attach rates.

Most consumers would probably only buy 2-3 games on launch and be happy with the discount they get on that (30% off a £175 console = £122.50).

As far as technology goes, the worst they can do is to copy Nintendo's motion sensing stuff and attach it to PS4 which is simply a more powerful version of PS3.

This strategy won't work because Nintendo will be doing something totally new by that time and will find a new blue ocean. Taking risks in devising innovations other than faster CPU/GPU is what they need to do if they want to be in the game business of the 2010s.

Back in the day like the 80s, Sony used to be a disrupter vis-a-vis other established firms. They took risks and were progressive and innovative. Yes, they were really cool, a lot cooler than what they are now. I hope they will remember the old spirit.

There wont be a nex gen for sony, they said that ps3 will probably be there main console from here on out, why would they need a ps4 if the ps3 has only shown 30% of its power with uncharted? If something looks that good imagine using 60% of its power. Besides nintendo will be in the nex gen and that will probably there only competition, unless somebody else enters the game.

Just a note: No one is happy in a business world when they lose money. They lose money on consoles because they feel that if they didn't, they wouldn't sell enough to make it a worthwhile investment, so they are gambling the loss will be recouped by massive sales or penetration or something else that is worth more to them later.

They are making money on the software, as they release more titles to the psn they make more money, and as they sel more games they make more money.

 Believe me, the PS3 wont last 10 years...

I wont believe you :P