I think they would only leave hardware if the losses on the hardware where pulling EVERY other part of the company down like SonyColumbia profits where down considerably due to PS3/4/5/6 costing that much to keep afloat they have to feed it with money from the rest of the company.
This has about a 1billion:1 chance in happening.

I think Bodhestava nailed it on the head. Sony needs to reevaluate how they design their consoles and change their philosophy accordingly. I'm sure the PS4 will follow an entirely different business model than the PS3 (and to an extent, PS2).

With that said, I sure hope the PSP doesn't die. I just picked up one this weekend and it's one hell of a machine. Too bad that Sony decided to make it into a movie-watching machine with UMD and all that crap. Make it play games and play them well, Sony. What games the PSP does have are great. It's too bad that no one buys them.

PSP is profitable, why the hell would they get rid of it ? Sony is in TVs Music Movies Cameras, they aren't #1 in all of them but you sure as hell don't see them pulling out because of that.

If they did the numbers and can make profits even with a small 30% market share these no reason to ever think about getting out, giving up and letting their competitor take over the market would be idiotic of them. Also giving up would piss of the consumers and ruin their chances in the future.

That's it AllAll - now the third thread this morning I have seen you trolling in.

Lets start with a 1-day ban, and see how that feels.

This thread is as valid as any other (and you'll almost certainly see people 100% argue why the plug WON'T be pulled). Your post was the trolling going on here.

And you know I was thinking about that considering Sega was the only a game console company they had no choice but to do what they did. But I don't think Sony will go in that the direction and rely on their other parts of the company. Sony should just take its time and go with the flow. PS3 is going to sale slow but Sony is going to make it through. We are now seeing the tough times of the Playstation brand. But Sony will come out of it.

You do realize that the other parts of Sony are already heavily funding the PS3, correct? They've funneled several billion dollars away from their other divisions to support the PS3. This is already happening. The question really is: how deep in the hole are they willing to go, and how long are they willing to sustain it? I think the answers are, generally speaking, "very deep" and "quite a while," so I don't think there is much to worry about, but the general premise is already true: the gaming division has been hemorrhaging money for two years now, and there is no end in sight. 

Define "pull the plug". Sony would never just stop manufacturing/selling the devices. They are both selling strongly, and will improve over time.

The closest would be to accelerate the development of their next devices, and phase these out. But even that is unlikely - look at the PS2, etc.

And Hus you made the most valid point because with them withdrawling the console it would definetly make alot of PS owners mad and force them to not support Sony. So again whats with the hate? Why can't everyone just wait for the system to get to its prime. Everyone knows its not going to be doing PS2 or PS1 numbers because of  its price and developers are giving the system a hard time because its userbase isn't big enough to accomendate their games, they should just wait and release games when they should and they know where they will make profit.

The answer to this question is certainly dependant on how you define "Pull the Plug" ...

The PSP and Nintendo DS are rapidly approaching the standard end of life (5 years) and could potentially be announcing a follow up system as of E3 or TGS in 2008. Sony could simply plan to replace the PSP in 2010/2011 and hope for an improvement in marketshare (and let it die if it doesn't meet expectations).

The PS3 is a much uglier beast ...

If you assume the PS3 will be hitting $300 in 2009 it could end up being an expensive system (far more expensive than its competition or a Blu-Ray player) which has few games being released for it, sales could stagnate, begin to fall and Sony could be force to pull it before it dies. Basically, it would be better for the Playstation brand for Sony to release an upgraded PS3 in 2009/2010 as a PS4 then to let the PS3 fall to (essentially) 0 sales and sit there for 2 years; it would become a lame product among gamers, it would enrage retailers, and third parties would have doubts that Sony could produce a system that sold at all after that.

Yea I agree rocketpig, I just purchased a PSP at the end of July and I'm a satsified PSP owner, and your right they should focus on the games not that UMD movie crap its not that important. Whats more important is to focus on the gaming aspect and then go with the extras. But rocketpig you are right and welcome to the PSP home. ^_^