It’s a 10-year plan, we all know that, but the latest PlayStation 3 financial statistics make for some eyebrow-raising figures nevertheless.
Speaking at Leipzig, Shiny Entertainment’s Dave Perry highlighted DFC research pointing to the fact that Sony has now lost more money manufacturing and selling the PS3 than it recouped during the five most popular years of PS2 sales.
Total loss estimates are up to USD 3 billion, with Sony unlikely to turn a profit on the manufacture of PS3 for another couple of years. Only the Wii has been able to make money out of the gate.
None of which is surprising, but the severity of the figures would suggest the necessity of a decidedly elongated hardware cycle even by Sony’s standards. Expect Playstation 3.5 in 2011 then, and the PS4 in 2016.
Some would argue it’s a small price to pay for a console that works for more than a couple of months at a time, of course.