It is no secret that hardware manufacturers almost always sell their platforms at a price that does not cover the basic manufacturing costs. However, Shuhei Yoshida, president of SCE Worldwide Studios, has confirmed that the company is now breaking even on Playstation 3 sales, and even making a minor profit. Speaking to IGN, Yoshida stated that “this year is the first time that [Sony is] able to cover the cost of the PlayStation 3. […] We aren’t making huge money from hardware, but we aren’t bleeding like we used to.”
Lower component costs and general scale advantage has allowed Sony to significantly lower the production costs of the Playstation 3 with respect to the previous financial year, when it was estimated that Sony was running a loss of approximately $40 on every console sold. However, Yoshida indicated that a new price cut should not be expected to come any time soon, stating that Sony is “looking at opportunities to adjust prices if we believe that [it] will increase demand.” However, with multiple triple-A titles scheduled for release this year, alongside innovations like Playstation Move and 3D TV, Yoshida indicated that he doesn’t believe now is the right time for the company to consider dropping the price even further.
Just on the hardware, when you have sold like 100,000,000 games at 60 bucks a piece, your making money still.