With one million units sold in 24 hours’ time, Sony has proven that the video game market is more than ready for the next-generation. But does that mean the company will make a profit Not on hardware sales on, given the costs.
According to a breakdown from IHS iSuppli, the PlayStation 4 hardware is actually very close to the recommended retail price. This is a huge change of pace from previous iterations of gaming hardware, namely Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, which were sold at an enormous loss.
The PlayStation 3 initially sold at a loss of $300 per unit, only to be trimmed down to a whopping $31.27 loss with the PlayStation 3 Slim in 2009. The PlayStation 4, by comparison, has a cost of about $381 to manufacture, $18 below the retail price of $399. That’s still a loss when you consider the discounts to retailers, shipping, marketing and other costs, but at least it’s closer to a profit. Once Sony sells a software title or two the PlayStation 4 should be profitable.
Another advantage going forward is the extensive use of industry-standard parts, which means Sony will see its costs going down with the usual reductions in parts costs for things like Blu-Ray drives.
Source: Forbes
