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

[Wysoseriouss]

Sony did this with the PS3 as well, I studied marketing for a bit and this is known as the Razors and blades strategy, in which, you sell the main hardware (the razor/console) at a loss and make up for that loss in sales of accessories (the spare baldes/controllers, games, PSN subscriptions etc) in the bigger picture, it turns a profit and makes the initial purchase of the console much more accessible, it's the same reason that printer ink is so expensive but printers are so cheap, same strategy, and in my opinion, a smart move by Sony as one of the big talking points of the new console war is price and Sony wins on that one.

[mymouthandi]

For everyone that has said that consoles are always sold at a loss, Microsoft have stated that the Xbone will not sell at a loss. It will probably make a profit on the console hardware.  

[mymouthandi]

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.

 

I think the key word is 'major' so they were quite clever. Saying it wouldn't sell for a 'major loss' leaves the possibility that it will sell for a loss. 

I've done a bit more looking and Microsoft will be breaking even, probably making a small profit on the Xbone hardware. 

[naca1227]

Not surprised. But it doesn't matter in the least. Sony will make their money back when everyone buys 1 game at launch

A $60 game won't go into only Sony's pockets. 

 

 

If this is true the controller is probably that $60 bucks 

[Wesley]

Sony is doing anything and everything they can to win this console war even like doing the right thing by gamers even thought they probably don't want to i'm sure they want the PS4 to be 499 just as bad as Microsoft but there not.