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Forums - Sony - iSuppli: Sony not loosing too much money with the PS3 these days

dsgrue3 on 11 December 2009
nightsurge said:
Yakuzaice said:

Uh.....so according to that chart they were making money for the ~1.5 years before the price cut?  Doesn't seem right that costs were at $400 in January '08, yet have only fallen $64 with the slim.

The author of the article and the chart made some misleading things.  First off the article claimed the PS3 basically broke even for a while, even though as of the end of 08 iSuppli still had the PS3 losing ~$50 per console sold.  I think the author of the article made a few errors by just trying to remember what he/she thought happened rather than looking it up, so the chart he/she made is inaccurate.  Also, the gaps in time are spaced evenly, but represent a 14 month gap and a 23 month gap, respectively.  That and there were intermediate drops, not straight from $600 to $400, so all those combined make the graph lines look very misleading.

The new iSuppli numbers are good, though, and as far as I know, they are the lowest the PS3 has lost per console sold so far.  After "sold to retailer" price is factored in, it's still about ~$50 lost per console sold, but before it was always $75-100.  After another year they should break even and be profitable on hardware unless they cut the price again.

Sony have said themselves they will likely reach the break-even point in March. Also read previous posts pertaining to the amount of money retailers make from console sales...$10 is a big difference when considering the amount of volume the PS3 ships. 

Also as someone mentioned previously, I'm sure Sony gets most of the parts for much better prices than iSupply can gauge.



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nightsurge on 11 December 2009
dsgrue3 said:
nightsurge said:
Yakuzaice said:

Uh.....so according to that chart they were making money for the ~1.5 years before the price cut?  Doesn't seem right that costs were at $400 in January '08, yet have only fallen $64 with the slim.

The author of the article and the chart made some misleading things.  First off the article claimed the PS3 basically broke even for a while, even though as of the end of 08 iSuppli still had the PS3 losing ~$50 per console sold.  I think the author of the article made a few errors by just trying to remember what he/she thought happened rather than looking it up, so the chart he/she made is inaccurate.  Also, the gaps in time are spaced evenly, but represent a 14 month gap and a 23 month gap, respectively.  That and there were intermediate drops, not straight from $600 to $400, so all those combined make the graph lines look very misleading.

The new iSuppli numbers are good, though, and as far as I know, they are the lowest the PS3 has lost per console sold so far.  After "sold to retailer" price is factored in, it's still about ~$50 lost per console sold, but before it was always $75-100.  After another year they should break even and be profitable on hardware unless they cut the price again.

Sony have said themselves they will likely reach the break-even point in March. Also read previous posts pertaining to the amount of money retailers make from console sales...$10 is a big difference when considering the amount of volume the PS3 ships. 

Also as someone mentioned previously, I'm sure Sony gets most of the parts for much better prices than iSupply can gauge.

And yet the iSuppli figure is right in line with what Sony said.  They said they are losing ~10% per console sold.

If you could link me to where they said they will break even in March, I'd appreciate it.  If they are losing $30 per console sold, I would imagine March could be the break even point, but with nothing to reduce the costs further for a while, I doubt just refining the manufacturing process would lower it that much that quickly.  I could be wrong.  I'm definitely no expert on manufacturing.  I'm just always speculative of every story like this.



coolestguyever on 11 December 2009

so if true they're losing $36 per console? I guess that's a lot better then the $240 at launch but still pretty terrible. Hopefully by next year sometime they will be making profit.

There won't be any need to drop the price from $299 for at least a year or two.



ClaudeLv250 on 11 December 2009

iSuppli, iSuppli....

Aren't these the people that had Wii and 360 selling negative units? I know this name is familiar because I'm pretty sure it led to the posting of that one pic with the idiot in the party hat drawing a wacky graph.



Tag - "No trolling on my watch!"

letsdance on 11 December 2009

2 games. Or 1 game and 1 controller.



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letsdance on 11 December 2009
ClaudeLv250 said:
iSuppli, iSuppli....

Aren't these the people that had Wii and 360 selling negative units? I know this name is familiar because I'm pretty sure it led to the posting of that one pic with the idiot in the party hat drawing a wacky graph.


They never posted anything about sales.



mike_intellivision on 11 December 2009

Remember though, marketing and transportation costs are not included. (Those are probably offset by volume buying of components). So the true profitability status is not really known.

All that can be said for certain is that the PS3 costs less to buy and less to make -- and probably is not the financial drain on the company that it once was. But it still "appears" to be sold at a loss.

Mike from Morgantown



      


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I like to jump around, and would lead a fairly serene and aimless existence if it weren't for my friends always getting into trouble. I love to help out, even when it puts me at risk. I seem to make friends with people who just can't stay out of trouble.

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saicho on 11 December 2009

so on Jan 2008, Sony was breaking even with cost with MSRP price. However, the whole "gaming"division still lost money. How? PSP is making money, PS2 is making money. and PS3 is not losing money on hardware. It just doesn't sound right to me.



MikeB predicts that the PS3 will sell about 140 million units by the end of 2016 and triple the amount of 360s in the long run.

ClaudeLv250 on 11 December 2009
letsdance said:
ClaudeLv250 said:
iSuppli, iSuppli....

Aren't these the people that had Wii and 360 selling negative units? I know this name is familiar because I'm pretty sure it led to the posting of that one pic with the idiot in the party hat drawing a wacky graph.


They never posted anything about sales.

I just found it (love the new search feature): http://www.vgchartz.com/forum/thread.php?id=17412

Here's their little gem:

According to iSuppli, the Wii will reach 30.2 million installed units in 2008, up from 18 million in 2007, thereby placing it ahead of the 25.7 million users the firm projects for Xbox 360 in 2008, and the 20.3 million for the PlayStation 3.

However, iSuppli's projections show the PlayStation 3 ultimately having the largest worldwide install base in 2011, exceeding that of the other two next-gen consoles. According to the firm, the PS3 will see 38.4 million users in 2011, growing significantly from a total of 10.3 million in 2007.

Overall, iSuppli says the percentage of the installed base will distribute quite evenly by 2011. The firm says the PlayStation 3 in 2011 will account for 35.4 percent of the installed base (38.4 million), while the Wii will take 34.8 percent (37.7 million) and the Xbox 360 will be at 29.8 percent (32.3 million).

Now I remember why these people aren't credible. They constantly daydream of an alternate reality where Sony is much better off and then proceed to prophecize it without any real rhyme or reason. No one can tell them otherwise, not even reality, so when their predictions ultimately don't come true, they either alter them accordingly for the near future for find something else to spin in Sony's favor. They're like a subsidary of the SDF.

Even so, that thread spawn such classics as these:

These still make me say ROFFLE!



Tag - "No trolling on my watch!"

Grimes on 11 December 2009

iSuppli is about as accurate as throwing darts blindfolded.



Anyone can guess. It takes no effort to throw out lots of predictions and have some of them be correct. You are not and wiser or better for having your guesses be right. Even a blind man can hit the bullseye.