PS3 pushing SCE $1.71 billion into red

I think the irony here is that Sony for all their chest thumping and technical jargon aside are reversing a Sony Vs. Nintendo 1996/7, the parallels are freightening. Let me try to explain without messing the timeline up to bad. After getting burnt by Nintendo, Ken Kutaragi approached the execs. at Sony Japan and said let's kill them alot. He gets the okay and begins transforming his cdrom technology into what will be known as PSX. Nintendo continues on their path thinking that they have held the gaming crown for two generations, with on paper superior technology and their trusty leaders Mario and Link they begin their next-gen march. A little under-powered cd based system called the Playstation launches right under there noses on these neat little cd's and begins to steal their thunder and before you know their knocked on their bottoms by Ken (I'm gonna get you sucka) Kutaragi and all at Sony rejoice. Flash to present time Sony has went unchallenged for two console cycles and are releasing an on paper technological monster , and Nintendo is releasing a far inferior system with a weird new console technology (wii-mote) and before they even launch are stealling Sony's thunder. This time around though they are also dealing with MS who has a comparable technology a 1 year lead and isn't the Sega Saturn, (sorry Sega). Sorry I had to drag them into, but they are part of the same time period. Fun fact on the Saturn thing, did you know that less than six months after the launch of the Saturn, Sega announced work on a next-gen 128 bit console named Katana (Dreamcast). I think that was the problem had they kept the name they would have simply or literaly killed Sony, kidding. Trying to keep it light here.

Man fanboys are so much fun to screw with because they will defend to the death their object of affection no matter how bad it might be. The arguments that they use are sometimes so out of touch with reality that you just have to sit back and laugh. Oh and allatyk, funny thing about third-party exclusives is they might not stay exclusives very long. Case in point GTA.

addict3d-gamer ps3 wont lose because of some reasons 1.cell chip =7*30gigaflops=210 gigaflops=20 times faster than core2 6800 We all know how impressive the PS1 and PS2 cpus were 2.exclusive and most popular games like tekken gran turismo .......... *crickets chirping* 3.japanese companies support it while they wont do same with xbox How many are they giving Japan at launch? 100K BWAHAHAHA!! And its not MSoft they have to fear in Japan, its Nintendo. and finaly because its playstation .most popular console in the world and history ...Just like Nintendo was the record setter until a better product came along

I would say this is more of a hurt to Sony than was Microsoft's own loss, but then again maybe they were equally bad. This sort of thing is to be expected when new consoles come around though.

@ Paul_TheGreat - With a crappy launch list and an expensive system they won't be a success.

I think Sony can survive from that. Just because the PS3 has been getting a ton of negative press doesn't mean it could be a success. I don't think Nintendo, Sony, or Microsoft will suffer greatly this console war. But then again, I'm just waiting to see what happens.

The PS3 will be an success.

"The executive also expressed apparent befuddlement about some gamers' anger that the PS3 launch was pushed back to March 2007 in Europe." Whoa whoa whoa... You think people are strange because you promise them something, hype it up, lie about it a little, and then change the plans and they get mad? I really wonder why there doesn't seem to be anyone in touch with reality working for Sony. I'm nobody's fanboy. Sony just made me anti-them. Five hundred and ninety-nine U.S. dollars!!!

I didn't realize I missed the all-of-America vote on whether the PS3 was a creative success or not. Darnit! Seriously though, I hate that kind of talk. First of all, its horribly presumptuous, and second of all, its intentionally vague. If anyone goes back to that quote "creative success" can be made to mean a multitude of different things. Reminds me of Sony's take on why the XBox 360 was actually more expensive.

i own three consoles, only one of which was launched in the past decade, and i see a serious error in many of your calculations. sony will get out of the red when they sell games. these games won't sell until consoles have been manufactured, shipped, and sold at one of the highest price points the consumer market has ever seen for a gaming platform. until sony makes some major price cuts to the PS3 they won't move units of any kind on the scale they're talking about.

Today Sony released some new details regarding how much power the PlayStation 3 would consume when plugged into a standard outlet. The PS3 will consume, at max, 380 watts of power. This means that the PS3 consumes more than double the power of the Xbox 360 (160w) and eight times the amount of the PS2 (45w). Even more so, if a consumer was to play the PS3 at max power for 4 hours every single day for a year, the PS3 would add around an additional $80 to his/her yearly electric bill. It is also important to take into consideration that the PS3 will consume 380w at it's peak performance. This means that the system would have to be running every application it can handle. We at PS3Land believe that the PS3 will in no way consume that much power if the owner is simply booting up the PS3 or scrolling through the OS. In other words, it is doubtable the PS3 will be running at 380w constantly. With power consumption like this, it is easy to see how closely the PS3 resembles a computer and the power a computer requires to operate. It is also amazing to hear that the PS3 does not have a power brick, runs quieter than certain consoles, and has yet to have any type of over-heating issues.

I think Sony's arrongance regarding the PS3 is going to come back to haunt them. According to Sony, everyone will buy a PS3 because: a) they have no competition, b) it's the single greatest technological achievement ever, and c) they're Sony. In reality, PS3 is only a modest jump over 360 in terms of graphics, and gameplay has yet to be proven. As to the whole speed of the processor, that's a silly point. It's all about architecture and harnessing the power, and in that regard 360 and PS3 aren't that far off. Furthermore, exclusivity is becoming passe. We've seen Resident Evil, Final Fantasy, GTA, and the Metal Gears all jump ship before. Who's to saw it won't happen again? The fact is Sony needs to stop relying on their name and start making some games to run on that powerful hardware. Because, no, we won't buy a PS3 without any games.

to Allatyk: If Japan's so in love with Sony's exclusives, Why is it that the ds is dominating the psp. If what you said was true, then shouldn't the psp be number 1? Also we all know the reason why Sony dropped the price of the 20gb ps3. It's because japanese gamers were not happy with the price of the ps3. So that shows that the japanese don't care what games are on the console if the damn thing is too expensive.

Sony has bet everything on the blu-ray medium. If they can get it to take off relative to HD-DVD they'll be fine, but otherwise, it's going to take a lot of game sales to make back the couple of hundred dollars lost on each PS3. The last time a console manufacturer put themselves into an "all or nothing" situation, the Dreamcast died early b/c Sega couldn't afford to wait it out for the profits to catch up with the expenditures. I can see some similarities here, and everyone saying that SCE is such a tiny portion of Sony, that it won't matter are misled. They are losing market share in the movie and consumer electronics sectors as well, and SCE has been the division keeping them profitable for the last several fiscal years. If that sector can't make a profit in a timely fashion, things are going to get bad for Sony, and the rest of the game industry, quickly. This is what scares me. Sony is such a large company, that if their gaming division implodes, which is a real possibility, then there is potential for another crash, and that's why I hope they at least remain competitive.

god they suck

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ardandil... all game companies go through it every launch. Hell even Nintendo used to do it, until they ditched the formula and decided to release a machine that is pretty much their old hardware with a turbocharger strapped on. It's the way things go.

To the people saying that Sony is suffering. They're not. This was expected from the beginning. The only way Sony can make money off the PS3 is off of peripherals and games. And that is Playstation's major selling point, always has been, so the PS3 should be fine. But then again we can't say anything for sure.

That's alot of money, and considering they probably won't have enough PS3's on the market to make money back from software in the first year, it could be a rough time for Sony.

Please don't suggest that Sony sell the PS3s on Ebay, they may think it's a good idea and do it:)

ps3 wont lose because of some reasons 1.cell chip =7*30gigaflops=210 gigaflops=20 times faster than core2 6800 2.exclusive and most popular games like tekken gran turismo .......... 3.japanese companies support it while they wont do same with xbox and finaly because its playstation .most popular console in the world and history

When asked about Sony's stance on its competitors, Sony answered "We Don't care". Well guess what? You better start.

"Nintendo is absolutely going to destroy Sony in Japan."... Yeah ok buddy. Just FYI, the big names that Japanese people are waiting for is Devil May Cry, Metal Gear Solid, Gran Turismo, Final Fantasy... I'm noticing a trend here. Oh that's right, PS3 exclusives. Sony will be doing just fine in their own country.

uhmm why such a company like sony, after such a good times with the ps, and ps2 would lose money on their third attempt of introduce a new game console, it seem like a "final" approach, or "all in"... i hope the ps3 will be a really good deal, after all...

Par for the course. Simply put, a bump in the road. 17 days! :)

I'm not enough of a fanboy to laugh at them...but more to laugh at all the stuff they have said about the PS3. "It's gonna rule" etc....and then have these economic sites saying Sony can possibly win. Hmm...with a 1.7 billion loss? Sure the company isnt going under, but that is quite a big hit.

Nintendo is absolutely going to destroy Sony in Japan. The Wii has been reported to be stockpiling 10-11 mill units by March 07. Sony will be launching with 80k units and are having major production problems. Lets not forget the price advantage too. With all the momentum of the DS in Japan this is not even going to be close. Make sure and buy all the Nintendo stock you can now because they will be printing their own money in Japan pretty soon. I expect the Wii to also get a major jump on the PS3 in Europe.

zicky "will sony sell 10milion in a year ??" It wouldn't be in Sony's best interest to sell that many in a year while still losing money on each one that they sell.

11/17/06

addict3d-gamer "sont win this war again. teken6 - resident evil5 - kilzone - gran turismo 5 - mgs 4 -final fantasy ...... there is nothing to fear" sony will fail with the ps3 cuz its using the same strategy that it used with the PSP and look how that isnt working, and in the console business theres not only one but 2 competitors, i dont see ppl paying 600$ for only 4 to 5 games, and if you buy one and stops working i dont see ppl spending 600$ more to replace it. either way is to soon to say who will win but i rather see profit from my company(like nintendo) than being market leader and being in red numbers(like sony)

bart8558 and Bored1ed "If PS3 doesn't do well...Sony will be in a heap of trouble. I hope it flops." Okay, this is not well said. If Sony were to flop, only its middle-class and lower-class workers would suffer. Executives never suffer (unless they are made to go to jail for some reason), instead executives typically have so much money that they simply retire or if they still want to work they just go to another company (e.g. Peter Moore).

I know how Sony can make this money back. They should sell half of the launch units on ebay. Losses gone hello profit.

zicky "will sony sell 10milion in a year ??" Not the first year. The PS2 didn't even do that, and this is $200 - $300 more.... PS2 also launched unopposed in all markets. If Nintendo strikes gold in Japan, and European and Aussie sales of the 360 hold up, then North America may be the only place that the PS3 sells relatively well for some time.

addict3d-gamer It doesn't matter what the games are. Sony are taking a loss on every system. They are facing major defects with the systems. They are billions into the red. Games alone are not going to make even half the money they need to recoup their expenses and definately not going to profit them for a very long time at this rate. And if people are losing interest in the console.. they are not going to pay this exorbitant price for just ONE game. Especially since a particular money making game in your list is going to be on the much more affordable 360. Also.. well said bart8558 and Bored1ed.

sont win this war again. teken6 - resident evil5 - kilzone - gran turismo 5 - mgs 4 -final fantasy ...... there is nothing to fear

Bored1ed "If PS3 doesn't do well...Sony will be in a heap of trouble. I hope it flops. Not because I'm a fanboy but because I have had many products from Sony over the years and can't think of one that I have that still works." Well said. My old ps2 stopped working twice. Now i have a new one thats two years old and already shown some problems. Then theres the gamecube... I had a big tv that fell on it and cracked the system at the controller port, and it still runs good as new. Nintendo focuses on short term business goals and part of that is making a system that is durable. I trust Nintendo a lot more than any other competitor even if they dont come out on top.

rahkayne " MS Fanboys please leave, your going to feel not so smart when Sony is here 5 years from now and made millions-billions (or even trillions ) on the playstation (one, 2, 3, and p) do you realize how far off your speculation is for how much money the playstation line could bring in. Millions,(comma) billikons is ok, but to say they could make trillions is just ignorant exaggerating. Sony's last income statement said that their net income was $1.08billion (i belive that means the total money made minus costs for last year). So if the playstation line was to make trillions or for that matter even one trillion, sony would have to make 250 times last years profit for the next five years for you to be correct. Even if everyone from our now 300 million US citizens became sony customers and contributed $3,000 to sony's profit that would be .9 trillion dollars for sony... so to say that sony could make perhaps trillions of dollars from the playstaton products is kinda retarded.

They will recover it because as Sony says " Our customers would buy the PS3 even if it didn't have games." To this day and well into the future that line peeves me greatly but, its alil to true. Not for me though. C'mon Sony focus focus!

"I think the idea of worrying about a delay in PlayStation is slightly strange to me," lol, is he that far detached from reality? is it strange for the fans to be worried about a delay?

Sony is not in a hole, OMG how you guys not look at the big picture. Second of all they say SCE (that's Sony Computer Entertainment) That's not Sony the whole company. These losses are all planned, they are investing, how are they going to make money all the time? Especially when they invest largely into their next products? MS Fanboys please leave, your going to feel not so smart when Sony is here 5 years from now and made millions-billions (or even trillions ) on the playstation (one, 2, 3, and p) *********************************************************************************** Forgive me but I clearly remembering that this artical and others stating that their losses were due to "unexpected" cost in reserach, development, and manufacturing. An investment is time and money that you expect to spend. Sony didn't expect to spend nearly $2 billion. Your predecting that Sony is going to make millions, billions and trillions based on what? Just because it's Playstation? What exactly is the big picture? I'm not a Sony, Nintendo, or Microsoft fan so what is it excatly that I'm not seeing? How can Sony make up all this money when they will be selling the PS3 for far less than it cost them to make? I don't know to me $2 billion in the red is a pretty deep hole that is only going to get deeper once the PS3 is release. Sony maybe able to make millions or billions with the PS3, but not with the way they are doing things right now.

Lets be realistic. Sony would have to have the miracle of all miracles to make all of that money back. Which they won't of course. What with all the defects and all. I still wonder why they bother with this machine. After many years of unbelievable success, Sony have been left thinking they can do anything. This is the reality check. They CAN'T. Grow up and learn Sony. Or face the consequences... By the looks of it, this is going to be the biggest financial failure in years.

"Sam_Lowery Wow, 1.7 Billion is like 17 times as much as microsoft lost this year. But Microsoft stock is valued at $28.75 and Sony's stock is at $41.59 Just to compare, Nintendo stock is at $25.80 I think all the companies are fine and nobody is going anywhere, it should be a good console lifecycle / war. Posted Oct 30, 2006 11:18 am PT" The price of a stock has absolutely nothing to do with the true value of the company. To get the value of a company you must multiply the value of the stock by the outstanding shares of the company. If a company has a stock price of $2000 and only 1000 outstanding shares that does not make it a higher valued company than one with a $2 stock but 2 billion outstanding shares.

If PS3 doesn't do well...Sony will be in a heap of trouble. I hope it flops. Not because I'm a fanboy but because I have had many products from Sony over the years and can't think of one that I have that still works. Plus I feel like I'm being used when they are charging $600 for a system merely because they want to push their new format. They've stated that with the PS3 it will make Blu-Ray as popular as the DVD (which they claim the PS2 helped push). So they are using the Playstation name because they know their fans will buy it without question hense hopefully drive the sales of BluRay movies. But I can kinda understand this because every company wants to make money...but for me...I use game systems to play games. I dont want to pay more for extras I wont use.

"The point really is that PlayStation 3 is already finished and has been tested in America and has been deemed a creative success," he said. "In the end that is what counts." Sounds like something the Dreamcast guys at SEGA could have said.

will sony sell 10milion in a year ??

ULTRAAAAAAAAA COMBOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Pwnage!

"zicky losdaddie- the only one to rep himself on this news share holders are insured, not so intiligent " Shareholders can (and already have) lose money on Sony's stock. Insurance doesn't cover you when the stock value drops.

haha cant forget the defects.........RIGHT ON

Look at it this way; last year microsoft's system launch of the 360 was terrible. Some people who preordered them weren't able to get one, and many others had problems running. Now there are 360's everywhere that run fine. I personally dont give a crap about microsoft but more power to those people who enjoy waiting for the new halo game and playing their 360's. Sony ps2 did the same thing with their launch... not enough units for everyone to enjoy during the holidays and a nice old class action lawsuit requiring them to repair any origional systems that had problems running the games. Its NORMAL for this stuff to happen.