Sony losing money on every PS3 Slim sold
Sony's Kaz Hirai has said that the company will make a loss on every slim PlayStation 3 console it sells.
The unit was officially revealed last week, and is due for release in the first week of September priced USD 299 / EUR 299 / GBP 249.
"If you're just talking about the hardware alone, the quick answer is yes," Hirai told The Times Online, when asked if Sony will lose money on the slim as it has on the original PlayStation 3.
"That makes good headlines, but I don't actually know that that's the true nature of the business that we're all in, whether it's PlayStation, Xbox or the Wii. I think the better indicator is to look at the business as a whole platform, to ask: are you profitable in terms of the hardware, software and peripherals. And the answer to that question is yes on a gross profit level since the last fiscal year," he said.
Hirai also said that while Nintendo has recently been praised as a company that has managed to bring videogaming to a mainstream audience, Sony originally broke down that barrier with the PlayStation 2.
"The most successful console is still the PS2 and it's still going strong. I think that's the console that really broke the barrier from videogames being just for videogamers into more of a mass market on a global basis.
"Nintendo's obviously done a great job in following that mass acceptance," he offered.
