14 DAY TRIAL // The PlayStation 3 console was a big gamble for Sony as it was one of the last devices to be launched around the world while at the same time the most expensive one. The fact that it was packed with high-end features like a Blu-ray player or multimedia capabilities made some people buy it, but for a lot of time the manufacturer was losing money for every PS3 sold.
Things changed though at the beginning of the year, as the company said that it was getting close to breaking even with the development costs of the big black console, largely due to the manufacturing costs dropping. But, as we all saw last week, Sony announced the PS3 Slim, which will be much cheaper than the original, meaning that the company will once again need to maintain a balance.
Talking with The Times, Sony executive Kaz Hirai revealed that, if in terms of hardware sales alone his company was losing money quite badly, if you take into account software and peripherals, then things aren't that bad and Sony is actually making a decent profit out of it.
“If you're just talking about the hardware alone, the quick answer is yes,” Hirai said. “That 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.”
Don't forget that Sony announced the first losses in many years at the beginning of 2009, but the new PS3 Slim, with its more attractive price and features, will generate some bigger sales for the Japanese electronics corporation.