Sony’s 3.3 Billion Dollar Loss

While clicking around the Internet the other day I stumbled upon an interesting article at Yahoo.com.

It seems these last two years have not been so kind to Sony in regards to the PS3. To date Sony has lost a mind blowing 3.3 billion dollars on the console.

Now I like many others was a little taken aback when I first heard the original price of the PS3 back at its launch. As a result I waited and ended up getting a cheaper 40GB model at the beginning of this year. The whole time I was waiting to pick up the PS3 I assumed that the high price was the result of Sony just trying to ensure some degree of profit of the console. I had absolutely no idea that even with the high price; Sony was still selling the units way under production cost.

From a business standpoint selling any product for a cheaper price then the cost of production is risky and usually done on a short term basis with the hope of generating hype and in return more sales. While I can’t be sure, I speculate that Sony was hoping that biting the bullet and selling enough units at a price under the production cost would spark enough sales of the systems and games to start turning a profit in the immediate future.

But the fact PS3 is the least purchased next generation console is something I’m sure Sony higher-ups didn’t imagine would occur. While PS3 is definitely the most powerful console on the market, the simple fact is the 360 and Wii have a bigger following.

As bleak as things appear for Sony, I feel all hope is far from lost. The very same statistics that show the devastating lost also show that things are starting to look up. So far, the financial loss for this year is less then last years. Couple that with the ever expanding PS3 game library, which is finally starting to get some really heavy hitting exclusives, and it seems the PS3 might be on the verge of hitting it big.

As a proud PS3 owner I would like nothing more then to see the PS3 get the success it deserves. It is a marvelous piece of hardware and hopefully some time in the very near future, more people will realize that.