Man, that graph is ugly. If you add up all the profits and losses, the gaming division is at a net loss. Wow. I suspect we'll see a PS4, but I wouldn't be shocked if we didn't.

Yeah, cause the article fails to list the bulk of PS1 profits from 95 on.

The gaming division is still at about a 1 billion net gain from PS1 - PS3.

If Sony is bleeding red ink all over the place, due to a global slowdown, it can't afford to take losses the way Microsoft had, who had surpluses and can afford to go after new markets.

I would say there is a decent chance there will be a PS4.  If there isn't, then the PS3 ends up being old in light of Nintendo and Microsoft coming out with new consoles.  Sony then no longer has anything to grab attention of the world, because it is still selling old hardware.  No PS4, means that it is only time before Sony drops out of the business, or redefines it somehow for its own niche, the way Wii is.

Given the investment, 1 billion Yen isn't a great ROI and I don't think what happened over ten years ago is all that relivant.  Honestly, I don't think they are going to drop out of hardware, but man that's brutal.

OMG PS3 is doomed confirmed....thread number 123321

this is only showing first half of 2008 when 90% of the games released this year was in Q3 and Q4.... it shows nothing useful to make any conclusion about 2008.

1 billion dollars, not 1 billion yen.

It also doesn't show the hardware price cut...

Sorry if I sound gloom and doom, but that graph is shocking to look at.

Not that I don't believe you (I do).   But do you have a link on that?

I dont see logically, from a long term point of view how selling "lesser" PS3's is anything to feel happy about.

1. When you buy a console- you advertise the console. your friends and family play it, and eventually atleast one of them tends to pick it up. Not selling one means in effect they might have lost 2 or 3 units in long term sales.( in effect that means if you bought 5 games n so would they thats a loss of revenue on 10-15 units of software)

2. Fewer consoles sold= fewer games sold= less support from software publishers= fewer 1st party/and or/fewer 3rd party royalties

3. less consoles means less advertising on PSN/HOME

4. one console sold less means one more potential customer for wii360. So in effect doubling your competition.

5. less consoles means lesser mass manufacturing which means longer time recovery for components to get cheaper-which keeps the console expensive for longer.

6.Fewer consoles sold means fewer Bluray sales/ lower royalties from movies.

SONY should be selling at full steam to recover from their losses. M$ had over $1billion RROD losses but they seem to be on track to recover from it.

The more you sell, the more money you can make off it.simple logic, especially if people will keep spending on that product(games/services/movies etc)