Sony has lost 3 Billion on PS3

http://videogames.yahoo.com/feature/sony-has-lost-over-3-billion-on-the-ps3/1223467

Yikes. I guess that "cheapest blu-ray player" has quite a cost. I think PS2 had the same type of start too, though. Billion just sounds like a huge number.

Thats surprising, it has been out for a while now and with RROD i expected Ps3 to have the edge, Halo would then push Microsoft ahead but then Sony rebound with MGS4. I wonder how Microsoft is siting compared to Sony

Xbox 360 broke for me 3 times, it was the worst made system ever. I will always be a sony fan, shocking to hear they lost 3 billion.

Not to sound like a PS3 homer or anything reminiscent, but like Gloat said, the most successful console in history started out losing money for Sony. As production costs drop, and more game sales happen, the get further and further out of the hole, and become extremely profitable for them.

On a slightly different note, is Microsoft stuck with the now defunct HD-DVD? Because isn't Sony the only maker of Blu-Ray format, and wouldn't that be extremely expensive for Microsoft to strike a deal with Sony, allowing them to use it? Can someone shed some light?

yeah, Microsoft would have to pay Sony tons of money to get the BluRay, As of right now, no one can make the players without paying Sony. It's bad for the consumer actually. It's the same crap they pulled with the BetaMax tapes a long time ago in the VHS era, and it was beaten because of the availability and price of the VHS, opposed to the jacked up price of the Betamax.

and Microsoft won't pay for it, not for this console, maybe next if it becomes the dominant player.

If you think about it, the Wiis don't even play DVDs, and they sell the crap out of those. people usually don't buy systems for their movie playing qualities, I would think it's more of a "nice thing to have"

well.. Sony formats their game on Blu Ray, and it holds more than HD-DVD and whatever the Wii is using, so the capability for pure disk space is more on Blu-Ray. You have to commend the Wii on what it has done. Its taken the vast majority of the casual player base. But i don't think it has much of a use for anything other than a bunch of mini games :hmm:

Billion is heaps (though I think Microsoft suffered in the general area of costs as well due to RROD and warranty) but it is somewhat normal to begin with a loss due to new technology, Sony's new technology is a lot more expensive to produce.

Though I do believe Sony as a company has posted a profit (last quarter) so I don't think they are too worried about it.

That's a high loss no matter how you look for it, but things have looked up for Sony lately. It's hard to gauge overall sales performance for both PS3 and 360 as an overall product, as the Wii has an unprecedented stranglehold on the casual gaming market, which is of course where most of the money is at. I know last time I checked Microsoft had had some substantial losses with their new generation system, but I have no exact figures.
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Bottom-line, I have no surprise with the fact that Sony has had such a deficit in the consoles brief history, as MANY factors have led to an almost laughable amount of mistakes.

If those losses were real, there would be no Play Station or Xbox 360, I can assure you that. These consoles are making money for their parent companies somehow.

They make their money from other ventures.