PS3 Japanese Price Drop 'Ridiculous'

Gamasutra reports on comments from a Japanese analyst group, characterizing the pre-launch price drop for the Japanese market as ridiculous. From the article: "Meanwhile, Naoki Fujiwara of Shinkin Asset Management suggested that the price reduction was 'negative for the short term because the company may not be able to sell enough consoles to cover an instant loss caused by the price cut.' The PlayStation 3 was already expected to be sold at a loss, with Sony allowing up to five years to recoup the costs. Shares in Sony fell 1.9 percent following the announcement, although this coincided with a generally poor day for the Tokyo Stock Exchange and may not be entirely related to the price cut."

Comments

Re:Wait what?

[ClamIAm]

So they are selling the PS3 at a loss

Holy shit, did you just get off the phone with Sony? Wait, you didn't? Oh, ok.

Newsflash: Sony has not said how much each unit costs to make. The only prices ever mentioned when talking about the PS3 are ones that bullshit "analysts" pull out of their asses, with no knowledge of what's actually going on inside Sony. The *real* article that Gamasutra links to says:

"Sony forecast costs of developing the PlayStation 3 will widen the games division's losses this quarter and may take five years to recoup."

This is different from each unit costing $800 to manufacture. The "instant loss" comment comes from some financial/business moron, and the comment may also have been mistranslated.