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Sony Earnings next week - Analysts predict big losses

Chittagong said:
I expect Microsoft to up the ante until they really drain Sony dry - first hit Sony hard in the critical part of their biz model, the licence revenue (cutting platform fee), then outspend on marketing + exclusives, finally counter with cheaper hardware.

:lol

So, Microsoft lost $3B+ so far and you expect them to lose what? another $10B by being more price aggressive on absolutely every single front, thus losing tons more themselves?
 
"So, Microsoft lost $3B+ so far and you expect them to lose what? another $10B by being more price aggressive on absolutely every single front, thus losing tons more themselves?"
yup - if the point is to pull Sony into a price war this gen and make them lose shit loads of cash, thus weaking them in the long term, then that would be one reason MS might be prepared to wrack up a bigger loss.

Before anyone starts, i'm just explaining the logic behind what Chitta said.
 
DCharlie said:
yup - if the point is to pull Sony into a price war this gen and make them lose shit loads of cash, thus weaking them in the long term, then that would be one reason MS might be prepared to wrack up a bigger loss.

Yup. If winning this generation comes down to who can afford to spend the most money, MS will win by default.

The question is if MS or Sony have the will to do it (especially with the recent shakeup in Sony's leadership).
 
DCharlie said:
yup - if the point is to pull Sony into a price war this gen and make them lose shit loads of cash, thus weaking them in the long term, then that would be one reason MS might be prepared to wrack up a bigger loss.

Before anyone starts, i'm just explaining the logic behind what Chitta said.

Microsoft announced a 3.46 billion dollar quarterly profit on the 27th of January. Their only money losing division is mobile services. I mean, they have 7.5% in Comcast and comcast is expanding like crazy now, imagine the money they get from that. Other divisions will pick up the slack for the home and entertainment division, the playstation division is the slack for Sony. I honestly think MS will cut the price of the 360 when the PS3 hits the states and europe and basically force Sony to dance in the flames of hell(competiting with the MS warchest) if they want to compete.
 
I dont know much, but what i do know is that next gen will be the !Console Wars! to end all wars, The three sides will line up and slug it out to the death. The one console future draws closer...
 
Bigfonzie said:
I dont know much, but what i do know is that next gen will be the !Console Wars! to end all wars, The three sides will line up and slug it out to the death. The one console future draws closer...
:lol you honestly believe that two of the big three competitors are magically going to just disappear after next gen? Get real.
 
Bigfonzie said:
I dont know much, but what i do know is that next gen will be the !Console Wars! to end all wars, The three sides will line up and slug it out to the death. The one console future draws closer...
Nah...Just between Sony and Microsoft. Nintendo will be like the Swiss and claim neutrality then strike the winner while they're still weak and bloody...Damn Swiss bastards.*



*No offense is intended to any actual Swiss bastards on these boards. This is simply Jive's paranoia/xenophobia of the Swiss.**

**Not really paranoid of the Swiss. They make some damn fine cheese watches and knives.
 
sonycowboy said:
:lol

So, Microsoft lost $3B+ so far and you expect them to lose what? another $10B by being more price aggressive on absolutely every single front, thus losing tons more themselves?

This time around, there's a great chance they'll break a nice profit by year 3 I believe. Even if they are more aggressive with their price cuts and give royalty breaks for exclusives, MS can still generate profits from many sources through the Xbox 360....

1) Catalog sales and royalties of Xbox games
2) Royalties of Xbox 360 games
3) Profits on hardware like mem cards, controllers, HD add ons, etc. (not counting the actual console)
4) Xbox live subscription fees
5) Microtransaction commission on game related purchases
6) In game advertising and LIVE direct advertising
7) Live Arcade 360
8) MMORPG's monthly fees (whether MS hosts for third-parties and gets a cut or whether it's for their own games)
9) "ITUNES" like Microsoft store for the sale of music, games, movies and more.
 
DCharlie said:
yup - if the point is to pull Sony into a price war this gen and make them lose shit loads of cash, thus weaking them in the long term, then that would be one reason MS might be prepared to wrack up a bigger loss.
Pretty much, giving PlayStation a taste of it's own medicine. :)

RIP Saturn. :(
 
yup - if the point is to pull Sony into a price war this gen and make them lose shit loads of cash, thus weaking them in the long term, then that would be one reason MS might be prepared to wrack up a bigger loss.


Could be MS's goal.

MS can afford to take way bigger losses on Xbox 360 than Sony can on PS3.

They got like 60 billion or whatever in the bank.

Be interesting to see if MS can actually make some money on the hardware overtime. Something they could never do this last time.


5) Microtransaction commission on game related purchases

I don't know why but the word "microtransactions" just gives me the creeps. :(
 
No one has considered it but in the next generation Sony will also benefit from the PSP business which will be surely profitable by the end of this year,so even before PS3 arrives.
This is a plus compared to the early PS2 generation when PSX business was naturally falling and SCEI had no way to offset the losses of PS2 first year of life.
 
yup - if the point is to pull Sony into a price war this gen and make them lose shit loads of cash, thus weaking them in the long term, then that would be one reason MS might be prepared to wrack up a bigger loss.
Everyone keeps singing this tune, but in reality, every single report seems to indicate MS intends to save cash everywhere possible on the next Xbox. To me it looks like that division gets more pressure from the MS top execs to bend towards profitability, and not more access to the unversally hailed 'warchest'.

At the same time, Sony seems to not mind beleeding cash upfront with PS3 just like they did in the past. I think it's just a matter of priorities. Even though MS can afford to lose huge amounts of money on Xbox, it doesn't mean they want to. At least it appeared to be so thus far, and it appears to be even more so for the future.
 
Everyone focuses on game divisions, but Sony is the only company losing money as a whole isn't it? When will that begin to effect decisions in the games division, even though that's profitable for them (or at least was before PSP)? I understand these are simplistic questions, but (for good or ill) I don't follow this part of the discussions as closely as other gaming issues. It seems to me as their marketshare begins to fall in console land (Microsoft) and they fail to grab as large a margin as they like in other gaming areas (Nintendo handheld) that they will have to forfeit the technical or licensing edges somewhere.
 
Musashi Wins! said:
Everyone focuses on game divisions, but Sony is the only company losing money as a whole isn't it?

Nope they always post a profit as a corporation on a year basis.
Their real problem is the electronics division which heavily reduces their profits.
 
Elios83 said:
Their real problem is the electronics division which heavily reduces their profits.
Some of which can be traced back to PlayStation investment. I wonder how big SEL's losses would really be if they weren't Kutaragi's dumping ground?
 
Everyone focuses on game divisions, but Sony is the only company losing money as a whole isn't it?
As far as I remember, no. Yearly they post a profit. Anyone can feel free to correct me.

It seems to me as their marketshare begins to fall in console land (Microsoft) and they fail to grab as large a margin as they like in other gaming areas (Nintendo handheld) that they will have to forfeit the technical or licensing edges somewhere.
If that happens it will happen with next gen machines. They are really best off putting the best they can in the upcoming fight. Now is not the time for them to strategize with bean counting when it comes to PS business. If cuts need to be made, they should be made elsewhere.
 
sony should do us all a favor and go 3rd party! omg sony teh doomed!! and why not, playstation hardware brand is a pathetic excuse for a console. i know many people (more hardcore gamers) who are on their 4th!! yes, 4th ps2!! WHAT THE FUKK?? How is that possible?
 
"Nope they always post a profit as a corporation on a year basis.
Their real problem is the electronics division which heavily reduces their profits"

Then why are they 61 billion USD in the hole and rising?
 
gameboya said:
sony should do us all a favor and go 3rd party! omg sony teh doomed!! and why not, playstation hardware brand is a pathetic excuse for a console. i know many people (more hardcore gamers) who are on their 4th!! yes, 4th ps2!! WHAT THE FUKK?? How is that possible?


WTF? My original PSX still works and so does my original PS2. Stop blaming Sony and learn to take care of your consoles :p

Rest of your post is bull shit.
 
Orin GA said:
"Nope they always post a profit as a corporation on a year basis.
Their real problem is the electronics division which heavily reduces their profits"

Then why are they 61 billion USD in the hole and rising?

I'm not an economy expert but I rember that here at GAF a few people explained that the 61 billions you're talking about are more than covered by other assets and as I told you on a year basis they always post a profit.
 
Orin GA said:
"Nope they always post a profit as a corporation on a year basis.
Their real problem is the electronics division which heavily reduces their profits"

Then why are they 61 billion USD in the hole and rising?

Except that they aren't. Sony has enough assests to cover any loans, outstanding properties, etc. that they have. You might want to search for that thread, where it was explained.
 
Sony has never let any one dictate pricing..... Why do people think they are going to start now? They will keep to their plans and lower their price when they are ready, not because of MS.

People are giving a console at 20 mill too much credit, I don't get it. Nintendo is irrelevant at 19 mill but MS is some super dude at 20 mill????? o.... k
 
The same nonsense was said this gen, and neither MS nor Nintendo could price compete with Sony's mindshare. MS needs to establish market and mindshare first, THEN start playing price games. But if they just want to play price wars while PS3s fly off the shelves at any given price, then they will lose. I don't think pricing is their weapon, it's about ensuring people have a reason to buy the system, EXCLUSIVES. Why Sony won the last two gens, and will win this one. They'll get the lion's share of exclusive titles. PEACE.
 
It's clear that MS has taken a very different tact with the R&D and manufacture of the next XBOX to reduce costs as drastically as possible. The original XBOX R&D team negotiated licensing, outsourcing and manufacturing contracts (the most notorious being Nvidia) that made it impossible for the division to ever see a profit margin on the sale of hardware. The thinking back in 99/2000 seemed to be, "OK, we'll renegotiate with all of our partners and suppliers later - let's just get this PS2 killer on the shelves as fast as we can."

The problem the XBOX team discovered was that it was extremely difficult to renegotiate any of their contracts (Nvidia again being the most notable) and it became apparent to the executives at the top of MS that the hardware would be a loss maker no matter what they did under their current contractual obligations.

This ultimately led to MS executives demanding a complete overhaul of XBOX's existing partners and an emphasis on software tools (XNA)/online functionality vs. the hardware superiority that they constantly touted to developers and publishers before the XBOX launched.

It is one of the reasons I believe PS3 will be a significantly more powerful platform but with Sony still able to manage the depth of their investments and the cost of their manufacturing efforts.
 
Orin GA said:
Then why are they 61 billion USD in the hole and rising?

Wait, wasn't that $61B in liabilities and not external debt? Don't they own an insurance company, ergo the type of liabilites seen in other corperations like GE? So, like, if they had to cover all their maximum claims - eg. liabilies - (around the same time hell freezes over and MS wins the next generation because of the nuclear war in the South China Sea), it would take xx Billion to do it.

Perhaps I'm wrong...
 
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