PS3 Slim Still a Money Loser for Sony

editorawais

Sony loses money on hardware, but the platform as a while is profitable.

Sony unveiled the new PS3 Slim officially last week at Gamescom in Germany. The new console was officially announced after months of speculation swirling about not only the slimmer PS3, but a price cut as well. Thankfully, both the price cut and new PS3 console became reality.

Times Online sat down with Sony Computer Entertainment's Kazuo Hirai and had a talk with him about the PS3 and the success of Sony as a whole. Hirai said that the time was right for the slimmer PS3 because Sony wanted to pass the savings on to the customer since it had to put less hardware into the PS3 than it was when the console first launched. The pressure from game developers to cut the price of the console likely figured into the decision as well.

When asked if the price cut was an admission that the PS3 sales have been disappointing, Hirai said sales were slower than the PS2, but on track with what Sony saw with the original PlayStation. He also says Sony looks at things on a 10-year life cycle and with the third anniversary, now coming it's too early to say how well the trajectory for the PS3 is doing.

One of the more telling questions in the interview was whether Sony is still losing money on the PS3. Hirai said, "If you're just talking about the hardware alone, the quick answer is yes. That makes good headlines, but I don't actually know that that's the true nature of the business that we're all in, whether it's PlayStation, Xbox or the Wii. I think the better indicator is to look at the business as a whole platform, to ask are you profitable in terms of the hardware, software, and peripherals. And the answer t o that question is yes on a gross profit level since the last fiscal year."

Hirai said in the interview that the "magic wand" motion controller for the PS3 is set for release in the Spring of 2010. He also said that Sony is working hard to be sure that software supporting the controller is available when it launches as well.

Hirai also says that Sony will not be ditching physical media altogether as some expected with the announcement of the UMD-less PSP Go. He points out that in many countries and locations downloading a full PS3 game would take inexcusably long to do.

He said, "We are committed to the PSP 3000 and the UMD business. A lot of people like to speculate that we're getting out of that business, but nothing could be further from the truth. We're not going to deprive consumers in all those other countries."