I fail to see the relation.  A console announcement precedes the actual release date by years, and the maker can avoid giving a specific time frame.  It doesnt effect sales until the new console will soon be released, and by that time the market should already be saturated by the previous console, so the drop off in its sales will not be considerable.

A price cut is completely different because people wont buy something they know they can get cheaper right afterwards.  Thus the announcement followed by the immediate change. 

sorry I've added to my first post since you read it last

Sony said the had no plans for another playstation just days before announceing the PS3. The only person that ever mentioned the name PS3 before that was Ken Kuteragi, and he has already talked about PS4, and 5. This worry about Sony on this site is getting out of hand. The company will be fine, and life will go on.

It is just amazing how worried so many Xbox, and Wii fans are worried about the status of Sony. Thanks for trying to support the Sony fans, but we are fine. Just keep talking about how your system is doing, and let Sony fans look at their own situation.

Did you just compare Nintendo's old situation to Sony's current one?

I can understand if you meant it in the very general broad sense that "they used to be last place and now they're first," but there's a bit more at play then that.

Despite coming last the Gamecube was profitable for Nintendo, pretty early on I think. That wont be the case of the PS3 ... its not a case of "giving up" Sony has shareholders to think about, and if the PS3 never makes back any money they wont be able to get a PS4 out based on their say so alone. Microsoft losing a ton on the Xbox is a different story ... I think they knew there was a big chance they would lose money on the Original Xbox but they went in on a mission and expected to lose money. Sony expected to dominate this gen like the previous 2.

Sony is not stupid theres billions of dollar that need to be made their not going to let M$ take them all.

I agree.  its all about profibility, regardless of the business.  Sony is losing money.  The economy is in poor shape.  ANd its just not their gaming division.  The company is hurting everywhere.

They are lucky that the console is still selling moderately well, and this only serves to bolster the company's confidence that it will one day become profitable. But it will definitely take longer than expected.

Sony is fortunate that the gaming industry continues to grow. And I think it will continue to do so thanks to the Wii. It has attracted a whole new base of gamers and many will migrate to the HD consoles over time. As long as there are more people playing there will be an increasing demand for consoles and titles.

The biggest problem Sony has is the competition, especially from MS.  The 360 is a direct competitor offering many of the same titles and services. The market is big enough for both currently, but Sony continues to lose market share. With all the other detrimental factors, Sony may hard pressed to make a profit with the PS3. And this was the last thing the investors were expecting following the PS2s success.

Nintendo's revenue also came from other sources too (namely the gameboy), the gamecube was nintendo's worst era and saw their first quarterly net lost since going public. The gamecube did not mmake a profit 'early on' if you account for development cost.

Miscrosoft has shareholders as well, the reason the Xbox was able to lose money was because MS was still profitable overall and they entered the game industry with the expectation of losing money and accounted for it.

Sony's current position is bad, but consider their history I'd be very doubtful that shareholders would stop Sony from trying again when the economy recovers and Sony's other division starts seeing higher profit margin.

Either way, Sony will be stripped lean by this crisis, which is good in a way.

PS4 coming out 2012, don't buy our PS3 console guys!

KBG29 said:
It is just amazing how worried so many Xbox, and Wii fans are worried about the status of Sony. Thanks for trying to support the Sony fans, but we are fine. Just keep talking about how your system is doing, and let Sony fans look at their own situation. 

Also, bolded part. Exactly what I wanted to say.

Did you guys though they will say:
"Sure we are doing PS4 it will be released February 2010 so you don't need to buy our 400$ ps3 now"

Yeah I know it's hard to think about reality when on forum :)