Thanks to some internal changes like a smaller and cooler Cell microprocessor (down from 90-nanometers to 65-nanometers), price drops on blue laser diodes, and the removal of PS2 hardware, production costs to Sony for their Playstation 3 have dropped from just above $800 each (when they first went on sale in November 2006) to around $400 each.
Yes, that means that they were losing money on hardware, which is actually not all the uncommon with video game consoles. The money that’s lost on the hardware is made up for on the software.
Even with the decreased cost of producing each PS3, Sony Computer Entertainment is expected to lose roughly $1.4 billion this fiscal year, down from a $2.1 billion loss last fiscal year.
[Via Engadget]
Filed under: tech
Sony was criticized by pretty much everybody for putting out a video console that was too expensive and too late to the market. However, I think they made a really smart move (making a premium console with everything thrown in), that will start paying off handsomely in the near future.
Agreed. Even for people in the market for a Blu-ray player that don’t really care that much for video games, the PS3 is a great choice.
It’s one of the least expensive Blu-ray players around, and can be upgraded so easily via firmware to support new features, such as with the latest update that brought support for the Blu-ray 1.1 spec.
Some of the other Blu-ray players unfortunately won’t be able to take advantage of some of the new features in 1.1, let alone the upcoming 2.0 spec which the PS3 should also be compatible with.