Author Topic: PSP PRICE ANNOUNCED!!! (Read 115858 times)

Guitar Smasher · « **Reply #75 on:** October 29, 2004, 02:04:27 PM »

Quote
Originally posted by: KDR_11k
I pretty much assumed that was at E3.

Either way, GSI claims they know from a source in Japan that Sony's going to lose 350$ per PSP sold. Sounds like they're mimicking Microsoft there with the difference being that Microsoft is slightly more profitable than Sony. MS is making billions (8/a if I read that report correctly) and although they didn't like it, one billion off their profits isn't a major issue. Sony's financial report looks somewhat different, they had about 800M$ profit last FY, chop two billion off and you can spell "desaster".

"As Sony's annual manufacturing rate is about 3 million PSP units, the company, for the next fiscal year, will ship 1 million units each to North America, Europe, and Japan. That, says Kutaragi, will be the break-even point for Sony's PSP to start making a profit." (from gamespot)

Only 3 million systems in it's first fiscal year? The PSP's gonna be a pretty rare product. Well let's do the math: how much does 3 million PSPs cost Sony if only one costs $350? About $1.05 billion. That's right, BILLION.

Now here's the funny part:
"But for the PSP, the company hopes to start turning a profit in the short term by releasing the handheld at a low starting price on its launch day." (again from GameSpot)

Here's an idea: hire an accountant. One billion dollars doesn't come out of just anywhere.

ruby_onix · « **Reply #76 on:** October 29, 2004, 03:56:46 PM »

Here's the link with Ken Kutaragi taking about the price and profitability of the PSP.

Personally, I think a lot of it looks like BS and doubletalk.

It looks like he's basically saying that the PSP is this cheap because most of it's being made internally at Sony. So he's pretty much just telling us the "raw materials cost" of all the PSP's parts, and that he's going to chalk up the price of constructing all these new factories and labs as a seperate one-time loss (or "investment") which has absolutely nothing at all to do with the PSP. Because that's another department. Which is a stupid word game that couldn't have been done if more of the parts were outsourced.

Also...

Quote
When planning for the PS2, Sony aimed to make a profit on the long term while gradually dropping the console's price. But for the PSP, the company hopes to start turning a profit in the short term by releasing the handheld at a low starting price on its launch day.

... doesn't seem to make any sense.

They're also saying that they'll eventually be able to order the screens in large volume, which will lower Sony's costs even more, but as I pointed out in that other thread, Sony's already doing that.

The battery life comments still seem like overinflated "best case" scenarios, but I think we got the only honest comment from Kutaragi when he said...

Quote
“The Walkman only ran for about two hours when it first came out, too.”

Stimutacs Addict · « **Reply #77 on:** October 29, 2004, 07:21:51 PM »

Mr. Kataguri and Sony really do believe that this will be the walkman of the game industry; if they plan on having upgrades and better versions every two years, count me out.

Ian Sane · « **Reply #78 on:** October 29, 2004, 07:52:00 PM »

"The Walkman only ran for about two hours when it first came out, too."

Yeah and the Walkman was a new idea at the time it was made. Guess what Sony, Nintendo's game portables have been around since 1989 with decent battery usage. It's pretty f*cking arrogant for you to make a comparison to the Walkman when the PSP is not a new idea. It's merely Sony's version of an idea that's been successful for 15 years. Nintendo had the battery issue in control since DAY ONE. So get off your f*cking high horse, Ken. All you guys have done is broken a concept that used to work.

McBane · « **Reply #79 on:** October 30, 2004, 05:39:35 AM »

Gamespy also says that Sony loses USD 350 (Yen 37.124) on every sold unit.

KDR_11k · « **Reply #80 on:** October 30, 2004, 06:56:56 AM »

GSI = GameSpy Inc.

Ymeegod · « **Reply #81 on:** October 30, 2004, 07:30:33 AM »

"if Nintendo DS could only pump out 6 Hours of gameplay "

What's funny about all this is the DS is only going get 6 hours of battery life on intense 3d games, hell nintendo stated as much (6-10) hours depending on app.

:0.

And nobody really knows the amount of what sony loses neither, just like with MS for that matter.

KDR_11k · « **Reply #82 on:** October 30, 2004, 09:06:57 AM »

6 hours with WiFi! WiFi is an enormous power eater, that's why nintendo developed their own protocoll to use when WiFi isn't absolutely required. The PSP will have maybe 2 hours with WiFi on.

boggy b · « **Reply #83 on:** November 02, 2004, 08:50:50 AM »

Quote
Originally posted by: KDR_11k
6 hours with WiFi! WiFi is an enormous power eater, that's why nintendo developed their own protocoll to use when WiFi isn't absolutely required. The PSP will have maybe 2 hours with WiFi on.

Again with the assumptions.

odifiend · « **Reply #84 on:** November 02, 2004, 10:02:44 AM »

An assumption based off of a fact that can be observed with Laptops, which undoubtedly have a bigger and better battery. So an informed assumption if you will...

KDR_11k · « **Reply #85 on:** November 02, 2004, 08:34:53 PM »

Nintendo stated that 6 hours was with WiFi on and 10 hours was with WiFi off. PDAs go down to 1.5-2 hours with WiFi on. Nintendo complained about WiFi being such a power eater and said that's why they developed their own protocoll. Just because Sony hasn't said anything about that doesn't mean they've found a way to magically make its power requirements go away.

Ymeegod · « **Reply #86 on:** November 03, 2004, 06:07:06 AM »

"Nintendo stated that 6 hours was with WiFi on and 10 hours was with WiFi off. "

Nope, nintendo simply stated 6 to 10 hours depending on app. Sony simply stated 4-6hour depending on app.

Neither stated if that was with WiFi or not.

Bill Aurion · « **Reply #87 on:** November 03, 2004, 06:25:48 AM »

Well I don't think the battery life will increase when you have WiFi on, so it's the more likely possibility...

KDR_11k · « **Reply #88 on:** November 03, 2004, 09:41:54 AM »

I'm pretty sure that Nintendo mentioned WiFi usage as the reason for that difference.

Either way, Kutagari admitted that the PSP's battery life will be shorter than initially claimed, at least for first gen devices. Anyone still questioning where they saved money to bring the price down to 200?

Mario · « **Reply #89 on:** November 03, 2004, 02:30:12 PM »

http://www.eetimes.com/issue/fp/showArticle.jhtml?articleId=51201601&kc=6256

Interesting article about Sony taking a big gamble with the PSP. Is it possible the PSP could be Sonys official screwup?

WuTangTurtle · « **Reply #90 on:** November 03, 2004, 08:13:28 PM »

i dunno about you but ditching windows media player stuff seems bad, alot of ppl use their stuff. I wonder if Sony will bring Sony Connect here for the U.S. and if ppl will care.

KDR_11k · « **Reply #91 on:** November 03, 2004, 11:17:42 PM »

I like their decision to scrap WM support. The format must be pushed down and killed for the good of the user. There are many more less restrictive and more capable formats out there, WM sucks and every popular device that doesn't support it is another blow to Microsoft's planned total media control.

WuTangTurtle · « **Reply #92 on:** November 04, 2004, 06:52:40 AM »

I agree but the large majority of ppl will most likely be dissapointed or annoyed. Just another problem for the PSP to add on the list.

vudu · « **Reply #93 on:** November 04, 2004, 11:47:03 AM »

From Mario's article:

Quote
Every PSP unit sale is likely to put SCEI at least 5,000 yen (roughly $47) in the red, resulting in an estimated total loss between $75.4 million and $84.8 million in the second half of the current fiscal year, ending next March

$47 loss per unit is less than what most people around here have been estimating. I wonder where this number came from, what it's based on, and how reliable it is.

Also, this means that they're estimating between 1.6 and 1.8 million units will be sold by March 2005.

KDR_11k · « **Reply #94 on:** November 04, 2004, 09:44:59 PM »

"at least". This is an estimate of the minimum loss they're going to take. Although noone knows specifics, we know it has to be higher than 47$. It could be 100$, it coud be 50$, it could be 47$.

ruby_onix · « **Reply #95 on:** November 13, 2004, 01:19:42 AM »

1up.com

"When it announced the final release date and price point for the handheld earlier this month, Sony said that only 200,000 PSP units would be available on launch day in Japan, with further shipments through the remainder of the month bringing the total for this year to 500,000 units."

"While it's possible that Sony's manufacturing processes haven't gotten up to speed yet, it's also possible that Sony is looking to make its promised 2004 launch for the hardware with as few units as possible, in anticipation of decreasing production costs in the next few months."

"The latter theory is backed up by reports from within Sony that suggest the PSP's production cost currently amounts to as much as $450 at current exchange rates."

BlackNMild2k1 · « **Reply #96 on:** November 13, 2004, 12:28:22 PM »

A $265.00 Loss!?!?

MaleficentOgre · « **Reply #97 on:** November 13, 2004, 06:24:22 PM »

could you imagine what the shareholders would do to kutaragi and kobayashi if this thing bombs

couchmonkey · « **Reply #98 on:** November 15, 2004, 05:51:34 AM »

I think it's actually a bigger problem for Sony if the PSP takes of than if it bombs...if the $265 figure is correct! That would be more than a billion dollar loss just to sell 4 million units.
But I think we're being a little too confident that Sony has screwed up. It doesn't make sense to sell the system at a huge loss in limited quantities, they could just push the price up by about a hundred bucks, I'm sure they would still sell those limited quantities and at a smaller loss (or maybe even a profit). Personally, I think Sony is losing money, but not enough to prevent it from selling a huge number of systems. If it doesn't want to sell a huge number of systems, then why release them at such a low price?
Then again, maybe Sony really has screwed up. That would be reassuring to me, if only because I don't want Nintendo to lose it's most profitable market.

MaleficentOgre · « **Reply #99 on:** November 15, 2004, 07:26:05 AM »

pushing the price up would doom the system, they figure they can push nintendo out of the handheld market and then they won't have to worry about losing money.

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Author Topic: PSP PRICE ANNOUNCED!!! (Read 115858 times)