The secret is out. This secret is that Sony will not be making a profit when selling the PlayStation 3. However, they will actually be losing money with every PlayStation 3 console that is sold. This piece of information became known when London’s The Times interviewed Kaz Hirai, the head of Sony. This fascinating interview took place while at GamesCon 2009. After the question regarding how much profit or money loss will be made with each sale of the PlayStation 3, Kaz Hirai responded by saying, “If you’re just talking about the hardware alone, the quick answer is yes.”
One thing that amazes me is that Sony does not really seem to be making a big deal of this problem. Kaz said, “[Losses per console sold] makes good headlines, but I don’t actually know that that’s the true nature of the business that we’re all in, whether it’s PlayStation, Xbox or the Wii. I think the better indicator is to look at the business as a whole platform, to ask: Are you profitable in terms of the hardware, software and peripherals. And the answer to that question is yes on a gross profit level since the last fiscal year.”
Overall, Sony is going to be making no profit on each PlayStation 3 sold. They will actually be losing money on each sold console. However, to make things more confusing, they really are going to end up making a profit. Though it was not made clear as to how much money would be lost on each sale, be sure to take advantage of the low PlayStation 3 cost.
Tags: playstation 3, ps3, Sony