Sony stops losing money on PS3 soon
Sony’s Kaz Hirai thinks that due to falling costs of PS3 components, the entertainment division of the company will stop losing money on the console in its next fiscal year. When the console was launched over a year ago, Sony lost a lot of money on each console they sold, but as production costs fall, there’s a big chance they’ll make some money.
This isn’t really surprising as it was always the plan to sell the console at a loss to make it ‘affordable’ for early adopters and hardcore gamers, just like Microsoft did with their Xbox 360. In the last year we’ve seen several changes in the PS3 hardware like the removal of the Emotion Engine and Graphics synthesizer as well as the introduction of a ‘new’ 40GB model in Europe which is missing both of the aforementioned chips as well as some other small things.
The next fiscal year starts in April which means Kaz and his pals have a year from then on to turn things around. He says that profitability is not a definite commitment, but they’re aiming for it. Besides the cost of components coming down, there are also fewer or smaller components to install.
The 40 gigabyte PlayStation 3 obviously has fewer components (than more powerful models), and uses less power, which means that components required to dissipate heat, for example, can be smaller, so there is some cost reduction there.
If they start making money that’s obviously good for them, but us customers prefer affordable consoles, so don’t forget about us Mr. Sony, and give us another price reduction.
Via: CVG
I wonder when the 65nm RSX graphics chip PS3’s will filter through, I’d be very interested in one then to make sure I get a nice silent living room blue ray player!.
@ Lee
Not that the PS3 needs to be quieter…
One day, mine was on all day long (~10 hrs) as various members of my family (of seven) played it. It was still barely audible.
Just something I’ve wanted to get off my chest for a while. Specifically regarding the last sentence of the article above and the statement “give us another price reduction”. First off let me make this clear, I’m a Sony fan, always have been, sense PSone back in the day, then PS2 and now PS3, which I have now bought two, one for myself, and one as a gift. The first one I got almost at release, maybe a week after or so, anyway nearly 750 dollars later I had my PS3 and as I listened to everyone bitching and moaning about the cost it just really confused me. Its like everyone wants something for nothing, the article above talks about how Sony was already loosing money and yet where asking for more and more price cuts and in case the writer of the article above hadn’t noticed Sony obliged everyone’s complaining and did make price cuts. Does anyone else remember the days when a company would release a product and it was expensive and if you couldn’t afford it you where shit out of luck. Nowadays if we don’t like how much something cost we bitch and moan and berate the company who made it until they drop the price, I think I’ll try that next time I buy a car and see if it works for me. Anyway this has been bothering me for a while and I’m sure people will have some negative comments to say at me and that’s fine, but you know what, you cant get something for nothing, and as far as I see it the PS3 is one of the most amazing systems ever made, not to mention the best BluRay player on the market, and for some reason no matter how low they set the price point, some people just cant stop complaining. Seriously I think if they where giving them away and throwing in a free PSP to boot people would still be bitching. If you cant afford it, stop complaing, and go buy a Wii.
Completely agree with ya on this one dude,
Paid £425 for mine roughly $850 best money i have ever spent. At the end of the day you get what you pay for, you want the best then your going to have to pay for it !
I know I complain about the price point because the console, which I only really want for games (and I complained about the 360 on this point, too) is too expensive for everything it has that I never wanted or needed. I don’t have an HD-TV, so I don’t want a BluRay player (or an HD-DVD player). I -do- want to play Metal Gear Solid 4. However, one game is not enough to submit to Sony forcing me into buying all the other parts of the Playstation 3 with my purchase (”with” bolded so everyone doesn’t jump on me saying “OH NOBODY FORCED YOU TO BUY IT”). Sony was ridiculously arrogant in designing their system, and I as the consumer feel screwed because of it. I don’t hate the Playstation, but I’m not going to buy one until the price comes down and it becomes a good deal. The library isn’t good enough yet to justify that price.
Yeah i totaly agree with scott too ive been saying this i long time. I love my ps3 its a amazing system and its pretty much like having a computer it has a freaking web browser on it great blu ray player awesome movies, great games call of duty 4, warhawk, unreal tournament, assassins creed and others. I am sick of the bitching too i mean 400 dollars isnt low enough geez bitchy whiny ass people make me sick like Scorn said if you want the best you have to pay good money for it so if you dont wanna get a ps3 quit moaning and bitching and buy a piece of shit wii good luck with the non hd garbage graphics and i will relax playing my ps3 games and blu ray movies in HD thank you very much
Console != computer. Not even close.
Yeah i totaly agree with scott too ive been saying this a long time. I love my ps3 its a amazing system and its pretty much like having a computer it has a freaking web browser on it great blu ray player awesome movies, great games call of duty 4, warhawk, unreal tournament, assassins creed and others. I am sick of the bitching too i mean 400 dollars isnt low enough geez bitchy whiny ass people make me sick like Scorn said if you want the best you have to pay good money for it so if you dont wanna get a ps3 quit moaning and bitching and buy a piece of shit wii good luck with the non hd garbage graphics and i will relax playing my ps3 games and blu ray movies in HD thank you very much
I’m sick of my 360. It is time I start supporting a company that gives me my moneys worth and doesn’t screw me over.
Sony will be even closer to that goal once I purchase a PS3!
you sad person
You xbox fanboy.
Hey Veritas I think you and I have argued before. I’m not gonna get into a big battle over systems with you, its a waste of our time but I did want to speak to a couple of your points. I think its fare for you to not want certain things in a gaming system, HD is new technology to some and there are those out there like yourself not willing to adopt it right now. The thing is its a technology that’s not going away. Walk in a store and ask to see there low definition TV’s and see what they say. By February 2009 there will no longer be analog TV broadcasts, everythings going digital, for HD. As we move more and more into the future new technology comes into play and there are those who go willingly and those who fight it tooth and nail. I myself bought a 1080p LCD the same night I bought my PS3 knowing full well that if I wanted to take advantage of everything PS3 has to offer I needed to. I do not regret my purchase whatsoever. Games and BluRay movies look incredible. That being said you can still buy a PS3 and play games on it and not have an HD TV. That is your choice, but you cant expect Sony to sell there system for a price point that doesn’t include the cost of the BluRay technology because there are people out there who don’t want it. You call Sony “ridiculously arrogant” well Sony is a big enough company they can defend themselves, they don’t need me to do it but I ask you this, is it really that they where arrogant, or was it that they wanted nothing more then to give the consumer, the gamer, the fans who where buying the system, every possible feature they could and try to sell it at a price that was consistent with what they had created? I read online the other day Microsoft is planning on releasing yet another new Xbox called Ultimate which ironically will include basically everything that PS3 had out of the box like built in HD movie capability, HDMI connection, high def audio, but with a larger hard drive, no word yet on a price point but I’m sure there not going to be giving those away either. Lets face it, Sony could have asked for way more money then they did. For those who did want it, you got a thousand dollar BluRay player and a several hundred dollar game system for a reasonable price, its now even more reasonable, but your waiting for a good deal you say, well let me ask you what’s a good deal to you? You say the library isn’t good enough, well I own 12 games, games like Motor Storm, Strangle Hold, Uncharted, Call of Duty, Skate, Heavenly Sword, Assassins Creed, Resistance and some really great ones I’ve downloaded form the Playstation store like Pain and High Velocity Bowling. I think most would agree that those are some pretty good games. And I will own Metal Gear and Gran Turismo 5 and Killzone 2 when they come out. So Veritas if it takes something like Metal Gear in order for you to buy PS3 then by all means dude wait, wait until your ready, but know this you wont be buying the system for “one game” there’s many great games out and many many more coming this year, not to mention depending on which one you buy there’s the backwards compatible issue which then bumps the library technically to hundreds but I guess that depends on how you look at it. Anyway I just wanted to make some points maybe have you see things from a different perspective I’m not trying to start a big back and forth battle. So get your PS3 when your ready, and no one will say anyone forced you to do it, you’ll do it because you want to and because you want a truly kick ass gaming system. Enjoy it!
Just because it is going digital does not mean it will be HD. You must have that confused. The only reason the U.S. is going digital is because the military will be using the analog signal because it can reach farther and penetrate the walls of a building better.(that’s the major reason anyway) The digital signal doesn’t have the same penetration or range as the analog signal but even in a weak signal the picture quality will still be better with digital but the signal is still not a progressive scan signal and in no way is it HD.
Nor does it mean that it won’t be HD either, it depends on the provider and what kind of service you have. I guess the point I was trying to make was that technology is changing and sometimes we have no choice but to change with it, but thanks for setting me straight on the whole digital vs. analog topic, I’ve never heard about this military aspect you speak of but maybe you have a higher security clearance then I do.
Technology may be changing and I do accept it, but I don’t want any one company to tell me which new technology I should adopt; especially when the reasons are for self gain. If we should all just change with technology than I would have to say Betamax FTW. My point being that I don’t want nor do I need HD at this point or at any point in the near future. If I wanted a next-gen format than I would have to go with HOD or holographic optical discs. Possible 5TB. in a few years though.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3D_optical_data_storage
Scott, I very much appreciate your desire to keep this civil; I know I myself have been guilty of getting into heated arguments before. So thanks for not getting angry at me or anything.
I know about the move to digital, but that only affects users of analog TVs that get their signal from antennae. My entire house is already using digital cable, which still offers normal programming as well as HD. I’m not saying I won’t ever buy an HD-TV, but they’re still far too expensive to even consider right now.
The reason I called Sony ridiculously arrogant was for reasons like how they tried to rip off Nintendo at the beginning of this gen (after the motion-sensitive Wii controller, Sony later announced the SixAxis? Come on, now. Just give me regular rumble!), and how they claimed BluRay was the “winner” of the HD format war in February of 2007. I understand that they’re a big company and they do indeed make high quality products, but that kind of attitude is what costs us, the consumer, in the end. They’ve been trying to present unnecessary upgrades as serious innovations and expect me to pay extra for it, when it was never wanted in the first place. I didn’t even know about BluRay until the Playstation 3… why would I adopt something so iffy so early into its life? Experience has taught me that early adopters get burned.
Another one of my points is that the Playstation isn’t just for gamers, now it’s being marketed as an “everybody” machine. A media center. That’s all well and good, but I want a game machine first. On one end there’s Nintendo, which offers purely a game machine, on the other is Sony, and then in the middle is Microsoft, who produced a console (faulty as it were in the beginning) that was basically just a game machine with a DVD player, and added the other media features (TV, movies) gradually and over the internet, and then offered the HD-DVD player as an upgrade for those that wanted it.
I can tell you right now, I won’t be buying that Xbox (but I’d appreciate a link if you have one), and for a thousand dollars, consumers should also consider that they can make a -true- media center, a computer, with even greater processing power and much more capability than a console. I understand that not everybody knows or wants to know how to make their own computer… but that’s where Sony pounces, because they know that the consumers don’t know. So they offer a machine for almost a 25% greater price than what could be made by a knowledgeable user, knowing that people would choose convenience over the pay-off that some work would bring.
Something that just came to mind, why is it that BluRay players are all so expensive, when the HD-DVD upgrade for the 360 is $150? I’m genuinely curious, so if anyone can tell me, I’ll be checking back.
Anyways, as for the library, most of the games you listed are available for the 360 as well, which I had grabbed a month after launch (surprisingly, the console lasted until now, but to expect to die in the first place, there’s still something wrong…), and for much less money than I would have paid for a Playstation 3. With that, I didn’t get wireless which I didn’t have capability for, an HD player I didn’t want. Only now do I find myself running out of space on the hard drive, and that’s entirely because of the abundance of demos and trial arcade games I have on it. The 120 gig HDD is a well-timed upgrade.
Anyways, I think that’s it. I only wanted to explain myself a little clearer. I do plan on buying a PS3, eventually… but this is coming from a guy that got a PS2 in the last two years of its “life”. =P Maybe I shouldn’t hold my breath for that kind of price reduction. If they can bring the 80 gig system down to $400, then my mouth will start watering.
Well Veritas here’s to hoping they drop the price to 400 soon so you can pick up a sweet new PS3. As far as why are BluRay discs more expensive then HD DVD, I honestly don’t know, I’ve heard early on they where harder to make, there’s the argument that they have more storage capacity therefore they have more capabilities, maybe that’s the reason for the additional what appears to be ten dollar difference from DVD. Then again maybe Sony’s just greedy. Who knows. I would figure its a safe bet they will drop in price just like DVD did. Anyway I tried to find a link for the information on the Xbox 360 Ultimate but was unable so I’m just going to paste the article here for you to read.
“CES: Xbox 360 Ultimate Rumors Building Momentum
January 03, 2008
By now we’ve accepted the fact Microsoft is willing to roll out new SKUs for Xbox 360. In fact, the practice appears to be a major component of their gaming business practice. This begs the question: what’s next after the Arcade, Premium and Elite?
Stuff.tv is “guesstimating” the Xbox 360 Ultimate is on the verge of being announced by Bill Gates during his CES keynote next week. Guesses and speculation are always good fun, but Stuff has published some rather precise details. They’re calling for the Ultimate to pack 1080p HDMI output, lossless high-def audio output, a whopping 320GB hard drive to take advantage of the upcoming IPTV service, cooler 65nm hardware architecture and a near-silent fan and, oh yeah, a built-in HD DVD drive.”
Of course if the latest news of Warner Brothers dropping the HD-DVD format for BluRay exclusively has any adverse impact on HD-DVD i.e. it goes away completely Microsoft may be reconsidering the built in HD-DVD option they mentioned in the article above. In kind of a strange note regarding that very subject you might want to take a look at this article.
Blu-Ray add-on again mentioned as a possibility for Xbox 360
http://www.xboxic.com/news/4196
Haha, I did see that, and it makes me wonder what all the fanboys will have to argue over if both sides switch to BluRay.
And also, thanks for the article!
Oh you know fanboys, they’ll find something to argue over.
Your welcome.