PS3 is losing more money than the PS2 made

PS3 News | So says David Perry.

David Perry, an important person at Acclaim (and the man behind Earthworm Jim), believes that the PlayStation 3 will not be profitable in the short term, due to Sony selling it at such a large loss.

Perry even claimed that the machine is losing more money than the mighty PlayStation 2 managed to make during its peak.

"Because of the cost of making the PlayStation 3 and because they sold it at a loss, Sony basically has pretty much no chance of making money on the PS3, because it's lost more money than they made during the entire peak of the PlayStation 2 - it's not going to happen again for Sony," said Perry during his keynote speech at the GC developer conference yesterday, according to GamesIndustry.biz.

Perry suggested that the only chance Sony has of making money on the PS3 is to make it last - and that's where Sony's proposed 'ten-year plan' comes into play.

"If they release the PlayStation 4 and have an even more expensive console and raise the cost of games by ten dollars, that would not be good," he added.

"So this is going to force them to make the PS3 last longer and they're kind of positioning to do that," he said.

1Up says Perry's claims are based on figures he obtained from DFC Intelligence.

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17 Comments

critter2003

3 years ago

PALGN wrote

Perry even claimed that the machine is losing more money than the mighty PlayStation 3 managed to make during its peak.

Might want to change that to Playstation '2'.

RXWAG

3 years ago

sony seem to be really struggling across the globe, could we see them bow out at the end of this generation? i dont think so but i think they seriously need to listen to what people are saying about why they dont like the console?

also find out what ideas people have, like why cant i listen to my music in game like i can on the 360?? i know that would not be a major selling point in anyway but it would be a step in the right direction!

john_solids

3 years ago

i think the biggest thing they need to do is get their developers starting on working on ps4 games earlier get some huge games out when it launches and surely that would help them alot. rather then have a slow start with games have a big bang of games. even at the moment they just need some big games (which some are coming) more then just a few and that should help them now if they are getting a profit.
in saying that its still got a fair few years left in it. so hardware costs will continue to go down and their costs will go down and it will sell alot better down the track, they make more profit so they could very well make up the money they have lost (for all we know)

Snixtor

3 years ago

john_solids wrote

they just need some big games (which some are coming)

Absolutely, but it must just be easier said than done? To me it's not just about having the big games either, but having them exclusively. I've got both consoles, and the only way Sony can guarantee I buy the PS3 game is if it's simply not on the 360.

I'll still be buying FFXIII on the PS3 though, since I think blu-ray is the better format for that kind of game, plus the whisper quiet PS3 will be better for those cinematic moments. But Sony... how could you lose that exclusive outside of Japan?

legend166

3 years ago

john_solids wrote

in saying that its still got a fair few years left in it. so hardware costs will continue to go down and their costs will go down and it will sell alot better down the track, they make more profit so they could very well make up the money they have lost (for all we know)

For that to happen, the PS3 would have to produce more profit than the PS2 did.

I can't see it happening.

john_solids

3 years ago

wow never been quoted so much lol
@ Snixtor - the way i see it is they are gonna push for these great games from their first and second party developers and put alot of focus on them to bring the best of the ps3 (even though thats the norm.) but instead of trying to get thrid party developers to make exclusives, more because they would need to pay them a hell of alot to get them exclusive unless for some reason the xbox doesnt have the storage ability for the games they want to make meaning not making it on the 360, but even then microsoft will pay them to make it work. and the sony developers they dont need to worry about stuff like that. (I really dont know if i got a point across there i think i went in a circle and didnt make sence but im confused and cant read properly at the moment. haha so if it doesnt make sense sorry)

@legend166 - you have a point, but i dont think we will see the ps3 drop to such a low price as quickly as we seen the ps2 did, meaning at this stage of the ps2's life for the ps3 we might see it around the $300-$350 range just to make up for the loss, just a guess of course, but thats just how i think they could make the money back by just keeping it that bit higher for a fraction longer, be silly not to wouldnt it?

jameseybuddy

3 years ago

Snixtor wrote

since I think blu-ray is the better format for that kind of game, plus the whisper quiet PS3 will be better for those cinematic moments. But Sony... how could you lose that exclusive outside of Japan?

What happens when you can install your 360 games on the HDD? Sony will also lose the edge on the sound department!

Snixtor

3 years ago

jameseybuddy wrote

What happens when you can install your 360 games on the HDD? Sony will also lose the edge on the sound department!

Even without a DVD spinning, I still find the 360 is a bit louder than the PS3. It could partly be down to the locations of them in / on my tv unit though.

I wonder how the 360 install option is going to work with multi-disc games though? Even with all the discs installed, could you play through the whole game with only the first disc in the tray? Or would you have to swap the discs each time to "verify"? If you could install all discs and use any disc to verify, then you and a few friends could all be playing through the same game on seperate consoles.

Appel

3 years ago

How are Microsoft going to control the install option? Because in theory, you could rent the game and just copy it onto your drive. Obviously, their will be measures to prevent this, but how will it work? If you have to verify every time you want to play the game by putting in the original DVD, whats the point?

I'm keen to know how it will work.

Snixtor

3 years ago

element465 wrote

If you have to verify every time you want to play the game by putting in the original DVD, whats the point?

That's exactly what they're suggesting. The point being slightly improved performance and a lot less noise (since the noisiest part of the 360 is the DVD).

Erm... off-topic.

mike00

3 years ago

Snixtor wrote

element465 wrote

If you have to verify every time you want to play the game by putting in the original DVD, whats the point?

That's exactly what they're suggesting. The point being slightly improved performance and a lot less noise (since the noisiest part of the 360 is the DVD).

Erm... off-topic.

I agree with you and its all good to go offtopic sometimes....

Deus Sceleris

3 years ago

element465 wrote

If you have to verify every time you want to play the game by putting in the original DVD, whats the point?

It could verify you actually have the game, then run the rest from the HDD?

Rabscallion

3 years ago

Or it could just ask you to insert disc every aloted timeslot.

ittekimasu

3 years ago

I'm thinking that the ps3 will be able to pull off profit in it's life cycle, the hardware is there, it's up to them to be able to come up with a good combination of price points, production prices and games/applications/advertising and to continue to improve on their firmware which they've been actively doing (even though it took them a while to get some of the more wanted parts in it)

i'm interested to see how the playstation community react once some of the services start to become avaliable for them, more in terms of being able to hot-swap singstar ps2 discs into the ps3 and getting their video service up and running in the PAL region. (maybe even get home out)

bigjimmystyle

3 years ago

Who is this guy and why does anyone give him credence when he speaks?

Lord Haart

3 years ago

It's all about developers, and how Sony supports (or doesn't support) them. In many ways, I want Sony and Nintendo to beat Microsoft, since I have a thing for the underdogs (fiscally, at least). But Microsoft is attracting developers all around, because developers realise that working on a well-supported platform means that your 3-year, multi-million $ investment has a much lesser risk of collapsing or costing even more due to coding delays.

The PS3 has a great architecture from a theoretical point of view, but it's really hard to leverage all that power (when you do, you get great games like Drake), but few people exist who can really do that. If Sony want to come back, they need to start promoting PSN the way MS supports XNA/XBLA, and really get developer support online. Then the games will flow in, and with them, sales and customer loyalty.

Snixtor

3 years ago

bigjimmystyle wrote

Who is this guy and why does anyone give him credence when he speaks?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Perry
I think he has some merit.

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