The Shrine

New interview with Kutaragi:

http://www.gamespot.com/news/6152519.html

They're trying to make the name "Playstation" synonymous with "entertainment computer" and seem to think that the PS3 is more of an overally computing appliance as opposed to a games system.

Haven't we heard all this before? Wasn't the PS2 and Xbox supposed to be that? Again, I'm not so sure people really want a set-top box. The PS2 hit at the right time by offering the DVD playback and I really think Blue-ray has limited appeal as people (including me) aren't prepared to switch yet again so soon.

What was interesting to me is in the article, Kutaragi mentions that Sony is a hardware, and not a software, company. They expect to make money off the hardware when it's mostly a games machine? I don't think they made hardware money 'til about year 3 on the PS3....

Profits chart

Quarter Nin------SCE-----MS (xbox)
Q1 2003:$114--$113---($277)
Q2 2003:$60----$15----($245)
Q3 2003:$186---$20----($273)
Q4 2003:$697---$659---($397)
Q1 2004:$48----($44)---($209)
Q2 2004:$161---($27)---($339)
Q3 2004:$203---($0)----($142)
Q4 2004:$605----$433---$84
Q1 2005:$78-----$14----($154)
Q2 2005:$34----($54)---($179)
Q3 2005:$140----$73---($141)
Q4 2005:$535----$575--($293)
Q1 2006:$64-----($525)-($388)


figures within () indicate a loss.
In millions USD.

If Sony is going to try for the Xbox market model, they might be in for a little surprise. Unlike Microsoft, Sony doesn't have billions to throw away.

Where is your link to that? I'd like to see if that is HW or the entire gaming division for each company. I thought Sony made a killing in the grand scheme of things from their developers.

Flip wrote:Where is your link to that? I'd like to see if that is HW or the entire gaming division for each company. I thought Sony made a killing in the grand scheme of things from their developers.

Yeah, my understanding is that the gaming division made the money due to the software sales that made up for the rest of the company. 40% of revenue of the entire company as well or something....

Ah, i found it.

http://forum.pcvsconsole.com/viewthread.php?tid=18820

While profit and loss are important to shareholders (dividends) the real story is the revenue charts. Sony is outselling everyone by a lot, they have a firm grasp on marketshare, Nintendo has their niche and knows how to make money in it, but cant seem to turn it into increased sales numbers (i.e. getting new consumers to buy their stuff).

Actually, I got the chart from a news letter =)

Actually, no one seems to be getting huge increased sales numbers, it's all relatively static; Microsoft has seen a slight rise. SCE has made a killing, over a billion dollars, just not as much as Nintendo has, which is closer to 3 billion. Though, the point is that MS lost hundreds of millions per quarter in almost every quarter of the Xbox lifecycle, billions total. Sony is a relatively large company, but Microsoft is MUCH larger; Microsoft can throw away a few billion here and there, I doubt Sony can. Though I am not sure what their stock situation is right now.

The problem with a videogame console as a substitute for a PC is that a lot of PC programs require certain software to be running. One of the purposes of a videogame system is to try to avoid that extra weight on the processor. I do realize that at 3.2 gHz the PS3 is powerful, 512MB of RAM and a 60 GB hard drive. Yet generic brand PCs are already at a comparable price with 3.6 gHz processors, 2GB of RAM, and 250GB hard drives, along with DVD RW drives; however, using one of those to run games on the level of PS3, or perhaps even the PS2, probably not gonna happen without a nice graphics chip upgrade.

Flip wrote:Sony is outselling everyone by a lot, they have a firm grasp on marketshare, Nintendo has their niche and knows how to make money in it, but cant seem to turn it into increased sales numbers (i.e. getting new consumers to buy their stuff).

Really, what's more important, greater revenue or greater profit? Don't forget, Nintendo makes more profit than the entire Sony corporation as a whole AND they have a greater cash inflow on a whole as well (don't have the links to the actual data right now, going off of memory).

If i was an owner or a shareholder, profit. As a consumer, revenue.

My office, for example, uses Lotus 1-2-3... I couldnt care less how profitable the company is, I would rather be using Microsoft Excel because it has a larger userbase, resources, and support.

A more popular (revenue generated) brand has it's advantages.

Flip wrote:If i was an owner or a shareholder, profit. As a consumer, revenue.

My office, for example, uses Lotus 1-2-3... I couldnt care less how profitable the company is, I would rather be using Microsoft Excel because it has a larger userbase, resources, and support.

A more popular (revenue generated) brand has it's advantages.

Right, but in terms of the videogame product, it might not be profitable for Nintendo to expand its userbase too much. And, as a Nintendo owner, I'm quite satisfied with the selection and entertainment I get out of my product. So, as a consumer, they're good to me

I think in the case of videogamers people are most interested in what games are going to be the most interesting for them to play. PC's have a considerably higher userbase than game dedicated machines, but PC games as a whole do not rival any major system; only Blizzard and EA games for PC ever seem to make the sales charts. Even Gamecube and PSP games are more likely to be found on the charts than PC games.