[QUOTE] PlayStation 4 hardware will make a loss at launch, but Sony expects to immediately recoup the costs when a typical user also buys a PlayStation Plus subscription and at least one launch game.
Sony Japan executive Masayasu Ito made the comment to Eurogamer today in an interview at the company's Tokyo headquarters.
Eurogamer has heard from well-placed sources that Sony expects to make an approximate $60 loss per $399 unit sold. When presented with the figure, Ito denied it - but only because the company expects a typical user to buy a console with these other items.
Ito would not be drawn on whether more than one launch title would need to be bought before the whole equation resulted in Sony making money, just that the company expected to turn a profit on an average user's initial purchase.
The purchase of one launch title and a Plus subscription would indeed total close to, if not more than, the $60 mark.
But even without the purchase of these items, PlayStation 4 will incur a profit at a sooner point than PlayStation 3, Ito concluded.
Nintendo made a similar comment prior to the launch of Wii U - its console was also sold at a loss but would become profitable with the purchase of a single game.
Last month Sony Computer Entertainment boss Andrew House said he expected PlayStation 4 launch-related losses to come in below those of the PlayStation 3.
Chief financial officer Masaru Kato added at the time that because the PS4 features PC-like architecture - as opposed to the custom components featured inside the PS3 - the cost of production is "much, much smaller".
[/QUOTE]
[URL="http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2013-09-20-sony-expects-to-recoup-playstation-4-hardware-loss-at-launch"]via Eurogamer.net[/URL]
almost all consoles sell at a loss with the intent that the low purchase price of the console drives more buyers, and the loss is then made up with the much exponentially larger purchase of video games
And they make 60/yr on like 80% of the consoles sold so it is a nice ROI
[QUOTE=Loriborn;42257757]almost all consoles sell at a loss with the intent that the low purchase price of the console drives more buyers, and the loss is then made up with the much exponentially larger purchase of video games[/QUOTE]
Pretty sure all consoles have done this since time began. I think I read that the Wii becomes profitable as soon as you buy two games. I guess its something like that with the PS4 as well.
[QUOTE=Jsm;42258198]Pretty sure all consoles have done this since time began.[/QUOTE]
Unless things have changed, it looks like the Xbox One might be the first console to either break even or make a profit with each console sold. Wonder how that's going to work out.
And queue the people saying this is Sony doing an act of messianic benevolence out of love for all human beings when this is actually common practice.
the price to burn a game into a disc and then put it in a plastic box probably costs around £5
then they sell it for £50 so 100% profit
Didn't they lose like a shitton of money for every PS3 sold?
[QUOTE=Killer900;42258737]Didn't they lose like a shitton of money for every PS3 sold?[/QUOTE]
Yeah they didnt start making money of PS3 tll 3 years later.
The PS3 sold at a loss of over 60$ I believe?
And didn't the Xbox 360 also sell at a pretty good loss for the first generation of it's production or so?
This isn't really news. It's kind of cool they managed to minimize it to 60$ though I guess.
[QUOTE=Mandems;42258712]the price to burn a game into a disc and then put it in a plastic box probably costs around £5
then they sell it for £50 so 100% profit[/QUOTE]
This is not how percentages work...
Even if you ignore all game development costs- just calculating disk cost- 100% profit (markup) on 5$ cost = 10$
sony lost around $400 on every ps3 they sold at launch
[QUOTE=Mandems;42258712]the price to burn a game into a disc and then put it in a plastic box probably costs around £5
then they sell it for £50 so 100% profit[/QUOTE]
yeah the game development costs nothing, they just have to burn stuff to a disk and put it in a box
[QUOTE=JeanLuc761;42258225]Unless things have changed, it looks like the Xbox One might be the first console to either break even or make a profit with each console sold. Wonder how that's going to work out.[/QUOTE]
As I recall, all Nintendo systems have always managed to make a little money on each console sold up until the Wii U.
[QUOTE=meppers;42259000]sony lost around $400 on every ps3 they sold at launch[/QUOTE]
Hopefully this won't stop them pumping out good exclusives, they desperately needed them on the PS3 to make up losses ASAP, not so much here.
[QUOTE=Skyward;42258235]And queue the people saying this is Sony doing an act of messianic benevolence out of love for all human beings when this is actually common practice.[/QUOTE]
To be fair I haven't heard of this being a thing to anyone else but Sony, news to me
[QUOTE=hexpunK;42259288]Hopefully this won't stop them pumping out good exclusives, they desperately needed them on the PS3 to make up losses ASAP, not so much here.[/QUOTE]
They've already snatched up a huge amount of studios for their first-party stable and they've still got Naughty Dog, Sucker Punch, Insomniac Games, Quantic Dream, and MediaMolecule so I don't think there's much to worry about there. Combine that with their huge focus on indies and Sony's in a good starting position for exclusives.
That momentum may not necessarily continue the whole way through, but right now they're riding high.
here's sony losing their money to bring us videogames everywhere while xbone isn't even releasing in every us state on launch day..
[QUOTE=Mandems;42258712]the price to burn a game into a disc and then put it in a plastic box probably costs around £5
then they sell it for £50 so 100% profit[/QUOTE]
For starters even using your numbers that isn't 100%.. Secondly, are you aware of how much developers / publishers pay to Sony/Microsoft/Nintendo for the right to [I]try[/I] and make a console game? Its really not that much profit at the end of the day.
[editline]21st September 2013[/editline]
For starters even using your numbers that isn't 100%.. Secondly, are you aware of how much developers / publishers pay to Sony/Microsoft/Nintendo for the right to [I]try[/I] and make a console game? Its really not that much profit at the end of the day.
That doesn't even take into account the actual development costs..
The way I see it- if we all buy about 15 PS4s apiece we'll put Sony out of business
get cracking bill gates
[QUOTE=meppers;42259000]sony lost around $400 on every ps3 they sold at launch[/QUOTE]
Imagine if they tried to even break even on consoles.
hehe PC gaming is too expensive!!!!
Well, it's a loss, indeed. But getting customers is more important than selling without losses. And besides that it's probably more intelligent to make customers happy.
Sorry, you need to Log In to post a reply to this thread.