Fri, May 29, 2009 | 17:21 BST
Sony plans to “quickly” break even on PlayStation business
Sony bossman Kazuo Hirai plans to bring the PlayStation end of the business out of the red and have it at least break-even “soon”.
The plan? Cost-cutting, network expansion, the possibility of adding PSN services to other products such as televisions, and digital cameras. The plan would raise sales of its PlayStation Network to around $523 billion for the current business year from less than $209 billion last year.
“We need to quickly bring our PlayStation business on a break-even level and later to profitability,” said Hirai. ‘‘We need a strategy where buying a hardware is not the endpoint but instead a starting point that can offer new experiences to our customers.”
Whether this includes a price-cut on the PS3 or not was not mentioned. Instead, Hirai said that such a strategy would be decided by “market developments.”
Via Kotaku.
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21 
Posted in: Financials, PS3, PSN, Retail, Sony, Trade
Tags: kaz hirai, PlayStation costs, Sony Business
21 comments
#1
Psychotext
29/05/09, 5:23 pm
I’m sure it’ll happen soon… they’ve hidden the gaming division in with the Walkman and Vaio divisions.
#2
blackdreamhunk
29/05/09, 5:27 pm
hey sony check this out Pc gaming made 68 billion in a ression! Yea, consoles game devs and consoles are on a decline and not doing good in a ression.
http://www.gamespot.com/news/6210424.html
There is a good reason japan is so far behide in gaming.
#3
anasui
29/05/09, 5:46 pm
wouldnt it be harder to break even if they price-cut the console?
#4
Shatner
29/05/09, 5:46 pm
Has blackdreamhunk ever made a post where he’s NOT pimping the PC gaming industry?
#5
Psychotext
29/05/09, 5:46 pm
Are you a “PC gaming” good news bot?
[Edit - Beaten by Shatner]
#6
Gekidami
29/05/09, 6:03 pm
How are those PC numbers even relevant to the article? Did there suddenly become a single PC company who collected all that?
#7
JPickford
29/05/09, 6:04 pm
I bet they are kicking themselves for not thinking of breaking even sooner.
#8
pracer
29/05/09, 6:22 pm
All of Sonys woes can be solved in just one little word: Games, Games, Games.
#9
blackdreamhunk
29/05/09, 6:24 pm
yea consoles are so great sony spent what is 7 billion on the ps3. Then you have micro spending what is 10 billion. This will go down in the history books as the greatest marketing failures of time. The real funny part is they are not done with losing more money. lol
If they want to waste more money they might as well give me a few billion, I can use it
#10
Razor
29/05/09, 6:26 pm
WOW!
Sony made “$209 billion” from PSN!!!!
#11
blackdreamhunk
29/05/09, 6:28 pm
209 billion and they are still in the red!!! they are never going to get it back! marketing failures or should I epic marketing failures.
#12
Psychotext
29/05/09, 6:31 pm
That’s a funny looking yen sign.
#13
Mike
29/05/09, 6:32 pm
#14
blackdreamhunk
29/05/09, 6:35 pm
yea sony and micro soft likes red fiures alot and so do a few other pubishers who are hip on their way to bankuprcy
#15
Psychotext
29/05/09, 6:37 pm
What do you think would be a good idea for publishers going forward blackdreamhunk? To make profit that is. I’m interested to hear your take on it…
#16
Gekidami
29/05/09, 6:41 pm
Make rubbish tat on PC ofcourse! Spend so little in development that even the 200.000 overall sales you’ll get will still come in as a profit.
#17
blackdreamhunk
29/05/09, 6:57 pm
real game devs make 5 mill, 7 million, 16 millioon easy they are not found on consoles that is for sure!!!
Real pubishers know how to make money not lose it. There is a good reason why japan is so far behide the west too.
You can expect more publisher and game devs to go bankuprt too. So how they like the decline so far it will get alot worse!!!
#18
Psychotext
29/05/09, 7:01 pm
Real game devs and real publishers? As opposed to the fake ones?
Why only 5, 7 and 16 million? Nothing in between?
#19
Mad-elph
29/05/09, 7:08 pm
PC gaming breaks even cause they don’t sell under costs, see $800 video cards, where people get all up in arms about a $400 PS3 when Xbox 360s are a bit cheaper. The PC market is also hidden cause half of the units sold do not go to gamers, so you have lots and lots of people with systems that are capable of gaming (with mid-low res) who won’t /don’t game and the sales of these hardwares offset any losses if they focused just on gamers.
#20
fearmonkey
29/05/09, 11:03 pm
Out of my group of friends, im the only one of two that still plays PC games, They have all moved to the 360, and a few use the PS3. Several own Wii’s, Iphones-Ipod Touches, DS, but they don’t use them alot.
It’s a shame…
#21
freedoms_stain
29/05/09, 11:20 pm
“…the sales of these hardwares offset any losses if they focused just on gamers.”
No they don’t, because as you said yourself:
“they don’t sell under costs”
How can there be any losses if every unit is sold at profit?
It doesn’t matter if you discount sales of video cards in pre-built computers not used for gaming because the company who built the machine still had to pay for the cards (heavily discounted no doubt, but at a loss to the manufacturer – no chance).
The cost of PC gaming is grossly over estimated by most console gamers anyway – they don’t understand the frequency of upgrades required or that the cost of upgrading is largely encompassed by the 25-30% savings we typically see on new gaming software coupled with fairly rapid price falls on older gaming software.