Sony will sell the PS4 at a ($60*) loss.

[sabot]

They make bank on other things.

[Ethnod]

weren't the PS3 and Xbox 360 sold at a massive loss?

[looney]

weren't the PS3 and Xbox 360 sold at a massive loss?

yes, and Wii U, the XBOX One however is stated to sell with a profit.

[mymouthandi]

Struggling to believe that this is selling at a loss.

[James_AJ]

Didn't they do this with PS3? It should be no surprises... 

[carolkarine]

something like this, yes.

considering you can build entire gaming system with all periferals under 800 bucks... and cheap games... fully functional PC and Monitor... free online... mods... communities...

no-brainer. not to mention you can allways upgrade your gpu ( 7870 is like 160 bucks when discouts or rebates )

not to mention you can play with gamepad in your living room with PC also...

 

hold on hold on. I like consoles. no, I love consoles. Consoles are the greatest thing to happen to gaming.

 

and now you're gonna rage at me and not even bother asking why I say this.

 

To be perfectly honest, I don't want the console community to be playing PC games. the PC community is generally much more mature and team-oriented. There's a reason why CoD isn't a big deal on the PC. people who play CoD are the kind of people that I don't want in my gaming community. (When I say this, I mean the whiny bitchy 12-year olds)

[qwertywarrior]

this is odd

when the ps4 was announced they said that it wont be sold at a loss like the ps3

 

not they say it does ?

 

odd

[Guest GRRigger]

hold on hold on. I like consoles. no, I love consoles. Consoles are the greatest thing to happen to gaming.

 

and now you're gonna rage at me and not even bother asking why I say this.

 

To be perfectly honest, I don't want the console community to be playing PC games. the PC community is generally much more mature and team-oriented. There's a reason why CoD isn't a big deal on the PC. people who play CoD are the kind of people that I don't want in my gaming community. (When I say this, I mean the whiny bitchy 12-year olds)

consoles may be great, but prices are... sky high on the long term

[Scia]

i do not believe this, this sounds too stupid to be true and sony as we've see aren't that stupid but definitely something Microsoft will do.

 

Was the same with the PS3, sold it at a loss initially.

[Matsy]

consoles may be great, but prices are... sky high on the long term

 

True that.  Games are cheaper, don't get forced to buy overpriced peripherals because nothing else works, the xbox even locked wireless internet to there stupid little wifi adapter thing which is like £30....so stupid.

 

PC is more expensive initially, but as you buy more and more stuff it evens out and PC even over takes it eventually.

[ACatWithThumbs]

i do not believe this, this sounds too stupid to be true and sony as we've see aren't that stupid but definitely something Microsoft will do.

Thats what SONY did with the Ps3 and even by waay more.

The PS3 was a loss for about 4-5 Years.

And the Xbox360 was also a loss for Years.

Thats how console's work they sell you for a cheap price a console at loss, but they get that money back with the higher priced games.

$10-20 from every game goes to SONY,Microsoft, and Nintendo thats the reason why console games are more expensiv then PC games.

And the developers have to pay them for patches and for a console licence to release a game on there platform.

[LAwLz]

This shouldn't be a surprise to anyone who followed the last generation of consoles. The last generation was sold at a loss as well:
BBC Secrets of the Superbrands how much a Playstation 3 costs to make (highly recommend you watch the whole documentary because it is brilliant).
 
Why do they sell consoles at a loss? Because there is a huge profit margin on things like controllers and other accessories. Sony also get 1 cent per blank Blu-ray disc, 9 dollars per Blu-ray player, 12 dollars per blu-ray burner and they also get paid for each game/movies sold that uses a blu-ray disc. So yeah, Microsoft have to pay Sony not only for the Blu-ray reader in the Xbone, but every time someone buys an Xbone game some of the money goes to Sony as well.

[jrfox87]

This isn't surprising and makes total sense. Selling at a loss and then making money off the customer for years after in different ways is a good move and can help you undercut the price of what your competition is offering.

[rashdanml]

No surprises.

 

As for the PS+ membership, the amount of value you get from it is definitely worth it for the measly $60/year pricetag. 

Also, as it was mentioned here. $600 split into 10 $60 payments is much less of an impact than $600 all at once (for the full 10 years); basic economics. Not really a fair comparison when taking into account the "cost" of owning a console over its lifetime. 

[solomongrundy]

Only 60 bucks? I thought it would be more.

[threadysparrow]

True that.  Games are cheaper, don't get forced to buy overpriced peripherals because nothing else works, the xbox even locked wireless internet to there stupid little wifi adapter thing which is like £30....so stupid.

 

PC is more expensive initially, but as you buy more and more stuff it evens out and PC even over takes it eventually.

 

 

In my opinion consoles are stupid. They say these consoles will last 10 years, meaning you would have to pay 400 bucks + 600 bucks for ps+. You are paying that for consoles that is struggeling to hit 1080p on launch titles. The so called "next gen consoles" are quite garbage.

 

 

something like this, yes.

considering you can build entire gaming system with all periferals under 800 bucks... and cheap games... fully functional PC and Monitor... free online... mods... communities...

no-brainer. not to mention you can allways upgrade your gpu ( 7870 is like 160 bucks when discouts or rebates )

not to mention you can play with gamepad in your living room with PC also...

 

 

Yeah yeah, we all know PC gaming is better. We can't even talk about consoles on here without someone giving their opinion about how much better PCs are. We know, you can upgrade it, we know it has better graphics, yes.

 

SHUT UP and let us talk about consoles without hearing how much they suck on every other post.

[TopWargamer]

Wanna know where they're making that $60 from? PSN. 

 

So really, they're not selling it at a loss, but they're not really making a profit either. 

[algoat]

I wonder how many parents would subscribe their kids to PSN. It's something that they may not be used to paying for unlike the Xbox users.

[mymouthandi]

After a bit of research, I found that Sony was saying in May that they would not sell the PS4 for a "major loss" like they did with the PS3. So, even though I doubted that they would sell at a loss, maybe I am wrong. Makes me wonder how Microsoft will be selling the Xbone for a profit considering they include Kinect hardware. 

[LAwLz]

After a bit of research, I found that Sony was saying in May that they would not sell the PS4 for a "major loss" like they did with the PS3. So, even though I doubted that they would sell at a loss, maybe I am wrong. Makes me wonder how Microsoft will be selling the Xbone for a profit considering they include Kinect hardware. 

Hmm yeah I remember hearing about Sony saying that they wouldn't make a loss on the console. Conflicting messages...

Microsoft will probably lose about the same or less than Sony though. The GPU in the Xbone is a lot slower and simpler (so it's cheaper), the RAM is a lot cheaper and the Kinect most likely does not cost more than 100 dollars to make, so if Sony loses about 60 dollars per PS 4 then Microsoft might actually sell the Xbone with the Kinect for very close to what it costs to manufacture (might even be making a profit).

Let's say they save 30 dollars on the GPU and RAM, and the Kinect costs something like 70 dollars to manufacture (based on the fact that the old Kinect was about 56 dollars to manufacture, so add a 25% increase in cost for the better hardware). Assuming the other parts costs about the same we can estimate that the Xbone costs 460 dollars to make, minus 30 (for the lower end GPU and RAM) and then plus 70 dollars for the Kinect, which ends up being exactly 500 dollars in total cost, which means Microsoft are not losing, nor making money from the console.

[Guest rdq8906]

Wanna know where they're making that $60 from? PSN. 

 

So really, they're not selling it at a loss, but they're not really making a profit either. 

Even with PS+ they would be losing $10 because PS+ cost $50.

[TopWargamer]

Even with PS+ they would be losing $10 because PS+ cost $50.

Could have sworn it was $60. Oh well. 

[Shrubpig]

Sony and Xbox have been doing this for years...

[martinrox1568]

I'm surprised MS didn't do this. Sell it at a loss, and then defenatly make up for it with xbox live or whatever the hell they call it. Hell, raise the price of live by $5 and no one will notice if you drop the console price by $70. 

[terralysis]

Console hardware is ALWAYS sold at a loss; the lost revenue is made up by game purchases.