PS4 Will Not Generate Large Launch Losses Like PS3 Says Sony

Chief Executive Office of Sony Computer Entertainment, Andrew House, has been talking about the financial performance of their upcoming PlayStation 4 console. It is well known that console developers will often subsidise the costs of consoles to the point where they make a loss on each sale. This happens because then expect to make money back through game sales and subscriptions to online services to turn an overall profit. That said we already know the PlayStation 4 will make a loss on launch because of that fact but according to Sony’s Andrew House the loss with the PS4 is much less than what Sony incurred with the PS3.

In speaking to GamesIndustry.Biz he stated that “We will not generate anything like the losses we did for the PlayStation 3”. The main reason for Sony being able to incur less losses comes from the decision to use what is essentially a pre-configured AMD PC instead of developing their own custom hardware. Sure it is custom to some extent but it isn’t that far for a high performance AMD APU PC. Sony says it expects to post a loss in Q4 of 2013, due to a poor Yen-Dollar exchange rate right now, but will return to strong profits in Q1 of 2014 when sales of the PlayStation 4 games, online services and other associated products help boost income.

Image courtesy of Sony