Sony takes huge PS3 Lost

[criverajr]

http://videogames.yahoo.com/feature/...he-ps3/1223467

Wow

[ND13]

BooHoo!!!

[amulford]

Damn. But that's only one product, and I'm sure there is some kind of accounting wizadry in the mix...

[Jstas]

Yeah, sure, wait until GT5 hits the shelves in all it's glory. Sony will turn around over night.

[bobman1235]

So, I was curious about this, so I looked up their financials.

Total Cash - 14.03 billion.
Debt - 10 billion.
Revenue - 82.19 billion.
Gross Profit - 15.86 billion

I think they'll survive a little loss (which will eventually turn into a gain I'm sure).

3 Billion is a lot of money but relative to their earnings (and potential) it's not a huge deal.

[Sami]

Correct me if I'm wrong but isn't Sony counting on game royalties to offset the losses on the hardware?

[phuz]

Correct me if I'm wrong but isn't Sony counting on game royalties to offset the losses on the hardware?

Yes. On paper the console hardware loses money.

When you account for licensing, software and accessory sales, they're doing juuuuuust fine.

This is the same for all late model game consoles.

[bobman1235]

ALL consoles count on game licensing and royalties to offset the cost of hardware (and, probably more importantly, R&D). I don't think a console has been introduced yet that hasn't lost money. While the scale on this one is much larger than usual (I'm guessing), Sony also made a huge technological leap, with the cell processor and everything, that they will be able to leverage for YEARS to eventually turn a profit.

[ND13]

I wouldn't be worrying about Sony....not one iota.

[jakelm]

I wish Microsoft and Sony would merge... PSXBox:p

[Lowell_M]

Yeah, sure, wait until GT5 hits the shelves in all it's glory. Sony will turn around over night.

Thread Hijack!!

Prologue Rocks!

I'm not much of a gamer, but got the PS3 as a BluRay player. Well.. Since I'm a budding club racer, I had to get GT5 Prologue. Even without the visceral feedback you get when actually in the car, the accuracy of the games driving characteristics of my car (2007 Infiniti G35 Sedan Sport a.k.a. 2007 Nissan Skyline 350GT) on the track are astounding. They need to add more tracks! (Nurburgring, Road America etc.)

... Then there is the GT-R. Holy crap!

[cheddar]

Correct me if I'm wrong but isn't Sony counting on game royalties to offset the losses on the hardware?

I think Sony was thinking a little bigger picture than game royalties with the ps3. For their games division, this will be a big shell game with game/accessories vs. playstation unit losses. But sony also owns a movie studio, produces hdtvs, and blu-ray players. Seems like the ps3 took one for the team...

[Sami]

They need to add more tracks! (Nurburgring, Road America etc.)

I don't think you'll get more track with the Prologue, they are counting on you to buy GT5 once it's out.

cheddar, of course you are correct, but the point was that PS3 might not be such a money pit for Sony as mere numbers tell. It would be like taking a company's support team and tell them to take a hike because they are costing the company lots of money without turning in a profit. Grocery stores selling milk/beer/whatever at "loss" to make profit on the "accessories", it's old tactics.

[Lowell_M]

I don't think you'll get more track with the Prologue, they are counting on you to buy GT5 once it's out.

I can't wait.... I'm all over the full version...

[cheddar]

cheddar, of course you are correct, but the point was that PS3 might not be such a money pit for Sony as mere numbers tell. It would be like taking a company's support team and tell them to take a hike because they are costing the company lots of money without turning in a profit. Grocery stores selling milk/beer/whatever at "loss" to make profit on the "accessories", it's old tactics.

Yes, totally agree that it's an old business model in consoles to trade profits on hardware for those on software. Just saying that Sony has been building up to this point for some time since their betamax days. They're positioned to profit all the way from movie/game production to software distribution to consumer hardware in a lot of product categories. And that's a scale unique to game console producers.

[ND13]

Look at the Wii. They kill ya with all the peripherals, but the console is cheap. Just found out exactly how much, last night, when I finally found one of the $249 consoles. Had to go ahead and pick up an extra controller, numchuk and gun. I still need to get two more controllers, numchuks and another gun. That doesn't even get into the steering wheels, tennnis raquets and a Wii fit.

[disneyjoe7]

Correct me if I'm wrong but isn't Sony counting on game royalties to offset the losses on the hardware?

Bingo we have a winner.


Thanks for seeing the bigger picture.

[cmy330go]

Yeah, sure, wait until GT5 hits the shelves in all it's glory. Sony will turn around over night.

That may be true, but IMHO GT can't hold a candle to Forza. GT my have arguably better graphics and artwork, but for driving feel nothing beats Forza in the console world.

Now PC is another story.

[obieone]

Good! That's what they get for introducing SACD, then NOT supporting it! F*(kers!

[mrbigbluelight]

"Sony has lost over $3 billion on the PS3"



Dam, that's like $138 Canadian !

[lomic]

I'm wondering if Sony and Microsoft might take out some of their "value add" features which can make their systems an attractive platform for non-gamers.

For example, both devices, especially Xbox, have digital media receiver capabilities. If someone buys an Xbox or PS3 just to stream media to their TV and not play games, these companies are losing money with no hope of future compensation through software sales.

Sometimes I wonder if this is why Xbox is so insanely loud in terms of fan and DVD tray noise - to discourage use for purely home theater applications. PS3 is better, but still loud enough that I'm sure some HT purists wouldn't consider using it as a Blu-Ray player due to its increased noise level over a dedicated player.