Reuters reports Sony announced today in Japan they expect their game division to suffer a $877 million USD (the equivalent of $100 billion yen) loss due to start up costs associated with PS3 over the next year. Clearly the worldwide launch later this year must be playing a factor. How the company expects to recover, however, is unclear.

Production costs on the CELL and Blu-ray technologies will obviously come down over the years, but Sony doesn' t have much wiggle room in pricing PS3 if they want to remain competitive with Xbox 360, especially considering Microsoft may very likely institute a price drop around PS3' s launch in November.

Sony stock holders must be sweating bullets.

Hahahahahahaha...

http://today.reuters.com/investing/financeArticle.aspx?type=marketsNews&storyID=2006-04-27T064317Z_01_TKV002652_RTRIDST_0_TECH-JAPAN-SONY-GAME.XML

Yes,but they also make around 10-20 billion dollar each year...

So...
ofc a lot of those money are invested and paid to their 150.000 workers.

And it' s their choice to take that loss - that means they want to pump PS3 as much as they can with no cut' s - risking a huge loss.

This is actually great for gamers.

It could be THE END for Sony this time is something goes wrong , but it most likely won' t - there' s a great interview with japanese industry analyst on gamespot and he tells some thigs I didn' t know - like why 360 isn' t selling so well and how people are comfortable with waiting for PS3.

Microsoft' s profit has risen 13%.

For the three-month period ending March 31, 2006, the company had income of $10.9 billion, which yielded it $2.98 billion in profits. That was a 13 percent increase in profits from the same period in 2005, which saw it take in $2.56 billion profitwise.

the console' s " life-to-date attach in the US through March for software and peripherals was 4.5 and three per console, respectively, higher than any other gaming console at this point in its lifecycle."

http://uk.gamespot.com/news/6148512.aspx

Now while Microsoft lose $126 per console, Sony will lose even more and take a bigger financial hit.



Anyway, i couldn' t find the article you mentioned. Do you have a link?

I think sony is testing the water with the price to see people' s reaciton ..by dropping the hint about what it might cost in europe then retracting then this week then retracting. I think they still are very unsure and when e3 comes it might stil not be final. But I think even if they launch at the same price of the 360 they' ll still be in huge trouble and if they do that microsoft won' t have any quams in hitting a price drop to reciprocate.

Oh yes, if sony goes the ghost of isao okawa will finally be able to rest.

ORIGINAL: whiteguysamurai

Oh yes, if sony goes the ghost of isao okawa will finally be able to rest.

Nice.

Yo Majik - that' s the one - good stuff:

http://www.gamespot.com/news/6148476.aspx

Oh ok. Now i get you. Sales in Japan!

Yeah, i think Microsoft are screwed in Japan, but they have a genuine opportunity to dominate in the west. Much depends on Sony right now but they are still making some massive mistakes when it should have been so very easy for them.

People who were complaining about Microsoft having to emulate Xbox games and talking about hopw Sony won' t have to emulate everything and how their backwards compatability would be perfect now look stupid. Sony ARE having to emulate through software to help the PS3 tech lose a few more pounds and fit into it' s nice, yet still big, shiny case.

It' s on them to reduce manufacturing costs VERY quickly and make their Live-esque service work as well as proving that Blu-Ray is NEEDED. Otherwise i can' t see them being as successful as they hope to be.

I wonder if they' ll have playable games at E3.

People who were complaining about Microsoft having to emulate Xbox games and talking about hopw Sony won' t have to emulate everything and how their backwards compatability would be perfect now look stupid. Sony ARE having to emulate through software to help the PS3 tech lose a few more pounds and fit into it' s nice, yet still big, shiny case.

Seriously though,who cares if it' s emulated if it works 100%?

People wouldn' t mind emulation on 360 if it actually worked - it clearly doesn' t for most of those 200 mentioned titles.For me it' s a fuckin lie - and I understand people who are pissed of cause they wanted to play some favourite Xbox titles.

If Sony can emulate both PSX and PS2 perfectly then they are the good guys - doesn' t matter how they do it.

as proving that Blu-Ray is NEEDED

oh it is trust me:)

When they demoed Getaway for PS3 they said that Blue-ray storage makes it possible to stream so much HD Content with so much detail.

Why do you think Square released FF7 for the PSX? Storage for all the 2D backgrounds was necessary (3 CD' s) just as much as for FMV.

Higher Bit-rates of sound are possible and if they want to have anything in 1080p then those textures and movies will take a lot of space.

I wouldn' t worry if I were you - games won' t cost (consumers) more and I' m sure they' ll find something to put on those discs.

HD player is a cool addition -360 would' ve been alright in this area if it could upscan DVD' s to 720p , which I hope PS3 will be capable of.

I don' t get it Gangsta sometimes you sound like you hate Sony and sometimes you sound like you love them, such as now... I' m confused.
Anyway, I feel really sorry for the Sony stock holders.

ORIGINAL: ginjirou

I don' t get it Gangsta sometimes you sound like you hate Sony and sometimes you sound like you love them, such as now... I' m confused.

Agreed. It' s strange.

Anyway, I feel really sorry for the Sony stock holders.

Well it' s those guys who will determine the price.

Anyway, I feel really sorry for the Sony stock holders.

Dont. Sony are only selling at that price for one reason. The blue ray. the 360 only plays second fiddle to the real competition, hd dvd vs. BR. If sony sells millions of units by the years end [which i have no doubt they will] they will make a huge loss, but that is only pennies to what they can earn from the blue ray format, as millions of people now have a spanky new Br player. Sony will reap the rewards of createing the new standard, easily makeing up for the loss of the ps3 untill that itself becomes profitable. I have no doubt the ps3 will sell for 300. Sony stock holders are in for one hell of a ride!

The PS3 will not be the deciding factor for Blu Ray. The gaming market won' t play a very big rol at all in how the Blu Ray/ HD-DVD war turns it. It' s gonna be the average consumer that determines that. It' s going to be up to the everyday consumer that goes out and buys movies to determine what wins. If they have the choice between two versions they are going to go with the cheaper one... HD-DVD. The movie market sells far more movies than the gaming market does games. It' s up to that market to decide.

ORIGINAL: ginjirou

I don' t get it Gangsta sometimes you sound like you hate Sony and sometimes you sound like you love them, such as now... I' m confused.

Yea gangsta you weirdo.

Anyway that aside I think if they sell it at 300 it will be a bit middle ground as in a lot of people might buy it but people who don' t know much would be more hesitant and they loose more on cost for production. Now if they raise it to 400 they loose less money but loose some avid fan based buyers but i' m really interested to see the final conclusion...knowing sony though they' ll probably say 300 at e3 then come 5 days before launch price reviewal 400 (nah even they can' t do that).

:)

I hate Sony for all the bad things they do - LIES LIES LIES , CHEAP PARTS , LIES LIES LIES , FAKE HYPE FAKE HYPE FAKE HYPE

I like PS2 lately (it was a disappointement at the beginning) and play many cool games on it.

I don' t care about PSP

when it comes to PS3 I give them the benefit of the doubt plus I hate those lies (killzone).

Both MS and Sony aren' t really as cool/honest as I' d like them to be but Sony is way too arrogant.

Rampage you probably don' t remember that PS2 seriously boosted DVD sales - it was a significant boost in sales , that' s what they count on this time.

It' s one of the main goals PS3 has - help Blue Ray establish large userbase in next gen DVD war.Why do you think they want to have such expensive drive?

80 mln Blu ray drives all over the world would be quite a nice advantage over HD DVD

Anyway Sony sux but PS has the monopoly so I' d love for it to be as good as possible.

Rampage you probably don' t remember that PS2 seriously boosted DVD sales - it was a significant boost in sales , that' s what they count on this time.

It' s not really the same though because we already have DVD' s and for the majority they are good enough.

Think just how cheap the advent of a next-gen DVD format will make the current generation DVD' s. You' ll be able to have huge collections (i already do) and it won' t cost an arm and a leg.

Sony ARE going to attempt to use PS3 to move Blu-Ray into peoples homes, but since it requires a HDTV to get the most from the format and most HDTV' s cost a bomb, only the people who can afford to spend £500+ will actually benefit.

You may say that the same thing stands for 360 as far as games are concerned, needing a HD display to play in HD, but 360 will be cheaper than PS3, so Sony are basically forcing you to buy a product that you MAY not use to it' s fullest, just because they want to ram Blu-Ray down your throat.

It' s the same for developers. It' s Blu-Ray or nothing for PS3 games and it costs more to both manufacture and develop on. So either a developer can make the same game for both 360 and PS3 but make more profit on the 360 version, or they can raise the price of the PS3 version. Interesting since Microsoft are expected to drop their game price back down to £39.99 (or whatever you pay for a new current gen game).

80 mln Blu ray drives all over the world would be quite a nice advantage over HD DVD

You expect PS3 to sell 80 million units?

Well I for one was never interested in DVD. I never had a tv that was any good so what was the point, had lots of VCR' s in the house, why switch for the same films?

Eventually after SEGA announced they were ditching the DC, I bought a PS2 and lo and behold I suddenly had a DVD player. Now while my main concern was for games, I took the chance to buy DVD' s as now I had a player (at no extra cost - as I saw it, anyway). So I got some DVD' s which I probably wouldn' t have got had I not got a PS2 (or much later, XBOX).

So In line with what Gangsta is saying, I agree 110%. Having a BR player in PS3 is going to do a great deal for the format winning the HD format war. Sure you might say, paying for for tech. you might now want/need, but lets face it.. Once people have one I guess a reasonable percentage of people will take the opportunity to buy HD BR movies.
As for your argument about the HDTV thing

HDTV to get the most from the format and most HDTV' s cost a bomb, only the people who can afford to spend £500+ will actually benefit

I think your being too short-sighted. Sure for those people who don' t have HDTV right now (If they are not simply because of HD console gaming), will at some point of the PS3' s 5 (as dog sony dog) year life span. Then they have a BR player and can actually use it (And their PS3' s as it was supposed to).
So whether it is about adoption of the HD formats, well a lot of video gamers are into new tech anyway, so they have HDTV' s, and would probably want to use the new format. But both formats wont instantly be picked up and leaving DVD for dead, but with substantial amount of potential BR users out there, I' d think film studios would favour BR over HD-DVD.


Besides I thought sony said the point of BR is that it was future proof, beyond what HD-DVD offerred due to the capacity of the discs. It' s a long term battle... The PS3 with BR is good for Sony, and if it works as I think it will, great for consumers. Because now we wont have to shell out for another player.

Think just how cheap the advent of a next-gen DVD format will make the current generation DVD' s. You' ll be able to have huge collections (i already do) and it won' t cost an arm and a leg.

HEll yeah :)

80 mln units -I think that' s what Sony wishes for and since gaming is getting bigger and bigger I think it' s possible.

thing is if everybody allready has a blue ray player, they are not going to go and buy a new hd dvd player that costs the same as the ps3 itself. Since they have a blue ray player, they might as well use it. Just like the ps2 and dvd.

I just hope they have much better blue ray playing software than the ps2 one. I am fairly sure they will.