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[x@3f*oo_e!]

Surprised by this - I thought it would be break even.

Sony Took a Loss on Each of the 4.5 Million PS5s it Sold in 2020

Surprised? Nah

www.tomshardware.com

The document :

https://www.sony.net/SonyInfo/IR/library/presen/er/pdf/20q3_sonypre.pdf

There it is..

[edit - they making money selling PS4 hardware though..]

 

[jroc74]

This was a given, it's how much of a loss that's the question.

IIRC, the PS4 was also sold at a loss for at least the first year.

 

[Certinty]

Can’t say I’m too surprised, the tech in these consoles is far beyond the selling price.

I mean, all things considered, the digital edition might just be the biggest RRP tech bargain of all time.

 

[ReBurn]

Surprised by this - I thought it would be break even.

Sony Took a Loss on Each of the 4.5 Million PS5s it Sold in 2020

Surprised? Nah

www.tomshardware.com

The document :

https://www.sony.net/SonyInfo/IR/library/presen/er/pdf/20q3_sonypre.pdf

There it is..

[edit - they making money selling PS4 hardware though..]

Imagine buying PS4 hardware now that a $400 PS5 exists.

 

[x@3f*oo_e!]

Can’t say I’m too surprised, the tech in these consoles is far beyond the selling price.

I mean, all things considered, the digital edition might just be the biggest RRP tech bargain of all time.

Yeah Blu-ray is like $10 as the component in bulk, who knows maybe only the DE is sold at a loss .. they know what they're doing ..

 

[ZehDon]

Expected, and they're making a profit overall, so seems like a pretty good business decision to me. Sony know what they're doing.

 

[LittleBusters]

I wonder if Microsoft is break even.

 

[ethomaz]

It is probably losing a lot with PS5 DE.
The normal model is probably breaking even.

PS5 DE should be near $100 per unit.
If they sold 1m then it is $100m loses.

They need a lot of game sales to recover it.

 

[kamkamkam]

Song as old as time. Companies usually take loses on hardware in exchange for profits on software.

 

[Captain Toad]

This is how basically every generation goes. Except for Nintendo, who makes hardware 2 generations behind and software at 25% of the budget of the competition.

 

[Andodalf]

I could tell based on the packaging

 

[Imru’ al-Qays]

Imagine buying PS4 hardware now that a $400 PS5 exists.

I just sold my fat PS4 for $200 on Ebay. People are really stupid.

 

[Nester99]

Water is also wet....

 

[IntentionalPun]

Good stuff.

My bank account thanks you.

 

[Nester99]

I just sold my fat PS4 for $200 on Ebay. People are really stupid.

Sold my Pro with 2 controllers with Spiderman and GOW for $400....

Folks are Thirsty.

 

[Thirty7ven]

The point is to be profitable on first game sold but that’s out of range for the DE.

 

[THE DUCK]

The point is to be profitable on first game sold but that’s out of range for the DE.

Which is exactly why they made almost none.

 

[Malakhov]

This was always the case besides nintendo. I wonder if it's still a good idea when scalpers have no problems selling it for almost twice the cost now.

 

[SlimySnake]

Surprised to see this. DE i understand, but they barely even shipped DEs. I dont see how the PS5 is loss making at $500.

 

[Rentahamster]

Given the crazy positive value when compared to comparable PC hardware, as well as past business practices, it made sense. It's good to have confirmation.

 

[Shmunter]

Razor blade model is back, and we all benefit!

 

[Maxwell Jacob Friedman]

Duh, but they make bulk of their money from software, which they sell a shit ton

 

[Concern]

No surprise. Consoles usually sell at a loss at the beginning of launch till parts become cheaper. I doubt it could be worse than the Ps3 which sold at like a $200 loss iirc.

 

[Entroyp]

Good guy Sony giving us a great price at the expense of profits.

 

[Maxwell Jacob Friedman]

It is probably losing a lot with PS5 DE.
The normal model is probably breaking even.

PS5 DE should be near $100 per unit.
If they sold 1m then it is $100m loses.

They need a lot of game sales to recover it.

They prob make more money back on software DE wise than physical. Digital they get more of a cut and and dont have to pay third parties to sell their content, also they dont have to spend money on shipping, packaging, cases, discs etc.

 

[Derktron]

Imagine buying PS4 hardware now that a $400 PS5 exists.

Imagine not being able to get a PS5 only because it’s completely rare to get one so buying a PS4 isn’t such a bad idea. Major games are still coming out for it. You have about a year with it by then the PS5 should be more available to get by the year 2022. Even I am considered getting a PS4 again only until things get better to get a PS5.

 

[RaZoR No1]

amazon still sells two PS4 Pro bundles for over 400€...
That is alot for an old gen console...

 

[ShadowWolf712]

Surprised by this - I thought it would be break even.

Sony Took a Loss on Each of the 4.5 Million PS5s it Sold in 2020

Surprised? Nah

www.tomshardware.com

The document :

https://www.sony.net/SonyInfo/IR/library/presen/er/pdf/20q3_sonypre.pdf

There it is..

[edit - they making money selling PS4 hardware though..]

...break even? What, you thought these things only cost $500 to make?

Consoles are almost always sold at a loss at launch, software and subs make up the difference.

 

[Derktron]

amazon still sells two PS4 Pro bundles for over 400€...
That is alot for an old gen console...

Yep, even at stores like Walmart are still selling out the PS4 at $399 and I’m am so surprised by that. You would think that just because the PS5 is out people would be inclined to get a PS4. I have a funny feeling the PS4 will sell a little bit more until things calm down.

 

[kyliethicc]

I'm just happy the PS5 DE is $400. Great price.

Thanks for taking the loss Sony.

And sure I'll pay $70 for GT7.. so we both win.

 

[G-Bus]

Very much expected. It was more how much of a loss are they going to take to be competitive at market.

Wonder if xbox is similar. Series X at a loss and series S even?

 

[SlimeGooGoo]

Loss of $499?

 

[Gamerguy84]

This is nothing compared to PS3. They lost $240 on every one sold, cell R&D was massive. Not to mention economy crashed, TVs got ate up by competitors, cellphones got good cameras and their cams took a hit.

360 came out and people on forums all over were celebrating the inevitable death of Sony. Shit really hit the fan for them.

They went to work and pulled it out though, gotta give them credit.



Which brings us to the PS5. It honestly looks like a great piece of gaming hardware. I for one appreciate the Ryzen, RDNA 2, and the rest of the engineering behind it all. Of course they'll make it up in software though.

 

[Bernd Lauert]

Imagine buying PS4 hardware now that a $400 PS5 exists.

Does it, though?

 

[KyoZz]

It's always like that when a new system is released. First months (and years sometimes) they losing money. But they don't really care since the real money lies in the games and services.

Edit: of course I'm not talking about Sony specifically. All manufacturer are concerned

 

[Fake]

Both Xbox One and PS4 sell at lost in their launch cicle.

 

[Reallink]

They took a minor loss on PS4 as well and PS5 is unlikely to be cheaper to manufacture when time aligned. The losses were evidently very minor though if they still beat Q3 '19 profits despite marketing and operation spend being way up due to the console launch. They probably lose $0-30 on the disc drive version which anecdotally represents >75%+ of PS5's produced thus far. The lions share of the loss is no doubt in the ~1 million digital editions sold

 

[LittleBusters]

Still in the big picture of net income this last quarter:

Apple - $28 billion
MSFT - $15.5 billion
GOOG - $15.2 billion
Sony - $3.5 billion

Even though Sony is kicking MS a$$ in gaming, Microsoft is kicking Sony's a$$ period for the last 15 years.

 

[Tschumi]

This was chewed over in the run up. Everyone accepted Sony would take a hit and undercut xBox, because they knew they could make it up in first party titles and general sales and paraphernalia.

OP must have been on vacation at the time for this to be a surprise to him now...

 

[The Chairman]

That's why they are not making more than 4.5 million consoles, they would go bankrupt if they made more and be forced to sell their office building just like they did in 2013.

 

[Derktron]

I just sold my fat PS4 for $200 on Ebay. People are really stupid.

Stupid? Or the fact that you can’t get a PS5? I mean the stupid one is you for selling the PS4.

 

[Bruno_Arrais85]

What's the big news?

 

[longdi]

That's why they are not making more than 4.5 million consoles, they would go bankrupt if they made more and be forced to sell their office building just like they did in 2013.

jimbo probably cried when ms walked back on raising xbl gold prices

 

[Trimesh]

Can’t say I’m too surprised, the tech in these consoles is far beyond the selling price.

I mean, all things considered, the digital edition might just be the biggest RRP tech bargain of all time.

That was probably the 20GB launch model PS3 - they were estimated to be losing somewhere between $250-$300 a unit on that initially.

 

[jaysius]

They cheaped out on production so much that they didn't do proper quality control on the plastic setting on the fans, and they couldn't afford pennies of silicone spooge to keep the PSU from whining, imagine how much they'd loose if they did those few things.

 

[Cornbread78]

With the Switch eraticating the PS5 & Playstation in Japan, I wonder if Sony & Playstation will be ok...

 

[ManaByte]

With the Switch eraticating the PS5 & Playstation in Japan, I wonder if Sony & Playstation will be ok...

 

[danielJackson]

Still in the big picture of net income this last quarter:

Apple - $28 billion
MSFT - $15.5 billion
GOOG - $15.2 billion
Sony - $3.5 billion

Even though Sony is kicking MS a$$ in gaming, Microsoft is kicking Sony's a$$ period for the last 15 years.

And?

By this logic stadia is a winner because Google makes bigger profits than Sony in whole.

No point to compare other divisions than gaming

 

[Virt McPolygon]

With the Switch eraticating the PS5 & Playstation in Japan, I wonder if Sony & Playstation will be ok...

I own both, but why are you comparing PS5 with something that targets a different userbase and released nearly 4 years ago?

 

[Derktron]

With the Switch eraticating the PS5 & Playstation in Japan, I wonder if Sony & Playstation will be ok...

Sony will do just fine, Playstation still has a place in Japan and Sony has other bigger markets to touch on. Now if major devs start leaving the PlayStation ecosystem in Japan then we worry. But in the meantime, they are doing just fine.