PS3

I always thought that the price for these gaming consoles was way too high, so I’ve never purchased one brand new. We had a brief discussion about Sony and its PS3 in class, but this article took me by surprise to say the least. http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9584_22-6136204.html Sony loses between $240 and $310 on every console it sells. That’s a chunk of change! It almost seems like it would be impossible to get out of the red when you start out like this. But, there not the only ones, the Microsoft loses about $200 for every Xbox sold. Plus, we’re just talking manufacturing and parts costs, not even factoring in marketing costs.

When you think about it, does Sony really need to take such a huge hit? It’s not as if they don’t have enough demand for their product. In fact, they really have too much demand and not enough supply. Every year at Christmas, there’s thousands of kids waiting for their new playstation on back order. I mean these releases drive hundreds of thousands to stand in line all night at Wal-Mart just to be one of the first in line before they run out. In fact it’s become dangerous. Another article stated that a man was held up and shot while standing in line for one of these PS3’s. http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9595_22-6136556.html So, no I don’t think there’s a good enough reason to price that far below cost.

Having said that, you know these companies have a safety net. In this case it’s the games themselves. All they are is software. We all know how cheap it is to buy a pack of 100 blank cds or DVDs now days. That’s all they’re doing. Sony and Microsoft manufacture these games for nothing and sell them at $40-$60 a piece, that’s we’re the real rip-off is.

Comments

[JeffLaw]

Ah the discrepency of assorment.
The built in deficit is probably the reason they only come out with a new system every six years. They need to allow enough time for the game sales to bring the system into the black.