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Nowadays the gamesplaying public need memory cards, as games like GTA3 are not going to be finished in 1 sitting. However, just the other day I shelled out 27.99 for a PS2 memory card, and was told it was 'quite cheap' by the un-trustworthy looking bloke in the shop. Is it just me or is 27.99 a bit steep? Thankfully I can now turn my PS2 off, insead of leaving it on overnight.
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Okay... I look forward to reading her reply.
muggs375 wrote:
> I will try and find out the cost of manufacture of a PS2 unit, as I know someone
> who works for Sony.
They won't necessarily know - it's a very, very big company!
The hardware loss-making has been reported many times in many different magazines. What do Sony - or any other console manufacturer for that matter - have to gain by lying about it? Especially when any investigative journalist worth a damn would easily find out.
> I will try and find out the cost of manufacture of a PS2 unit, as I know someone
> who works for Sony.
They won't necessarily know - it's a very, very big company!
The hardware loss-making has been reported many times in many different magazines. What do Sony - or any other console manufacturer for that matter - have to gain by lying about it? Especially when any investigative journalist worth a damn would easily find out.
I agree with Wookie, at this stage Sony are probably losing money with every PS2 bought. I remember Sega selling the DC for less than it cost too make. But on the other hand the PSone is probably selling at a profit because the technology is old and very easy for Sony to produce.
I was just reading in the Sky television magazine about actors and there salary. For a $20 million movie salary for a A-list star e.g. Brad Pitt he would only take home $7 million, due to tax e.t.c.
This is how Sony sell there PS2. You pay £199.99 but they take home less. Why? Because the middle men have to take there cut. The PS2 is sold by Sony to a shop, that shop wont sell it at the price Sony sell it too them so they add money on. So the memory card would be cheap if you went to Sony and bought it from them. Its also to do with bulk. If your local game shop is small and can only buy 5 PS2's at a time then the cost for each unit is higher than if say SR bought a 1000. Thats why SR sell the PS2 with the DVD remote as they can afford to add it in due to the cost of each PS2 being less. Some online shops offer PS2's a little cheaper. This also works with the games. SR must buy 1000's of 1 title while a local shop may buy 10. There for SR spend less per game and then sell them to us cheaper than shops. Or it could be due to the fact that SR are such nice people :-).
Memory cards are expensive but if you go to a high street shop, complain to them about taking such a high profit. Sony are making there bit of profit but shops are taking a very high margin of profit for just sticking it on a shelf and having a person standing in the shop asking "Can I help you".
I was just reading in the Sky television magazine about actors and there salary. For a $20 million movie salary for a A-list star e.g. Brad Pitt he would only take home $7 million, due to tax e.t.c.
This is how Sony sell there PS2. You pay £199.99 but they take home less. Why? Because the middle men have to take there cut. The PS2 is sold by Sony to a shop, that shop wont sell it at the price Sony sell it too them so they add money on. So the memory card would be cheap if you went to Sony and bought it from them. Its also to do with bulk. If your local game shop is small and can only buy 5 PS2's at a time then the cost for each unit is higher than if say SR bought a 1000. Thats why SR sell the PS2 with the DVD remote as they can afford to add it in due to the cost of each PS2 being less. Some online shops offer PS2's a little cheaper. This also works with the games. SR must buy 1000's of 1 title while a local shop may buy 10. There for SR spend less per game and then sell them to us cheaper than shops. Or it could be due to the fact that SR are such nice people :-).
Memory cards are expensive but if you go to a high street shop, complain to them about taking such a high profit. Sony are making there bit of profit but shops are taking a very high margin of profit for just sticking it on a shelf and having a person standing in the shop asking "Can I help you".
muggs375 wrote:
> Anyway, would such a large corporation as sony
> produce something knowing that it make a loss?
Yes, because they know the real profit is in the games. That's why it's in their interest to sell as many consoles as possible - not for the profit from the machine, but for the profit from the software, as people generally by one console, but many games.
The profit to be made from the hardware is finite, as if everyone in the world owned a PS2, there'd be no more profit to make. Games, however, keep selling.
It's a balancing act, though - while the console is 'young' and games sales are limited, you have to get as much from the machine as you can. Once you have a large user-base and games sales take off, you can afford to lower the price of the hardware. Which is exactly what Sony have done.
Ask anyone - they'll tell you pretty much the same. :-)
> Anyway, would such a large corporation as sony
> produce something knowing that it make a loss?
Yes, because they know the real profit is in the games. That's why it's in their interest to sell as many consoles as possible - not for the profit from the machine, but for the profit from the software, as people generally by one console, but many games.
The profit to be made from the hardware is finite, as if everyone in the world owned a PS2, there'd be no more profit to make. Games, however, keep selling.
It's a balancing act, though - while the console is 'young' and games sales are limited, you have to get as much from the machine as you can. Once you have a large user-base and games sales take off, you can afford to lower the price of the hardware. Which is exactly what Sony have done.
Ask anyone - they'll tell you pretty much the same. :-)
I think you ay be worng about the profit/loss sony make on the console. It is well known that the electronics industry enjoys the highest cost/profit ratio of all major industries. The average mark up from manufacturing costs to retail price is often as high as 300 to 400 percent, usually around 200%. For example, a good HiFi only costs about 3 or 4 pounds to make, but will retail at £800. Sony may have been making a loss selling the units at those prices, because the place that quoted that was including development costs, etc. and not including sales of licences etc. Anyway, would such a large corporation as sony produce something knowing that it make a loss?
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