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Sony Reports Q3 FY12 Results - $2 Billion Loss, 6.5 M PS3's Shipped [Shares up 13%]
- Thread starter Parmenides
- Start date
staticneuron
Member
- flooding in Thailand
- strong yen
- lower unit sales across the board
I think it was closer to 8 million. But MS has been doing a great job in terms of timing in the market and keeping the steam up. All the little exclusive deals, price drops, clever timing of their biggest exclusives, the slim and the kinect, all was done in a great manner. Granted MS backed off of the strong push for specific overseas markets and dialed back on their first party studio stable. But it made for better numbers. If sony had done some of the same moves they would be viewed as villains. No winning for them apparently in western markets. Anti sony vibe is strong. Well, If things continue on this path I hope I can get some good experiences from them before they might have to exit. I would shed a tear.
They had expected a $1.2 Billion loss and are now saying it will be $2.9 Billion. Stock is going to take a hit tomorrow.
CoffeeJanitor
Member
Kaz is about to destroy everyone.
Boss Doggie
all my loli wolf companions are so moe
Nintendoom-oh wait, sorry.
Except Nintendo actually posted a profit for Q3 (although they will lose money for the full year).
Q3 is supposed to be the money-making quarter for companies like Nintendo and Sony who sell tons of consumer goods in the holiday quarter. Taking a massive loss in the holiday quarter is pretty scary news for a company like Sony.
choodi
Banned
the playstation brand is probably the only one they have that is worth a damn right now.
No way it discontinues.
More likely they will shed other interests and refocus as prinipally using playstation branded products as a trojan horse into the living room.
Kind of like how apple use their products to sell you digital content.
Benefits of apple's model is the low production cost structure
I agree there will be a PS4. I think that it will have to be sold at a profit from day one.
Actually, the PS3 is down 300,000 compared to 2010.
choodi
Banned
Agreed.
He has a tough job turning the ship around, but he will also have an unprecedented opportunity to cull every single poorly performing product.
Baconsammy
Banned
I'm sure Sony is having a right good laugh about that, eh?
How much power does he really have to get things done though? Wasn't that one of the reasons Stringer wasn't able to accomplish much?
And selling their S-LCD venture to Samsung.
Auto_aim1
MeisaMcCaffrey
Only Sony Pictures and Financial Services did well. Their gaming division underperformed compared to last year, and they said it was due to the PS3 price cut.
-Pyromaniac-
Member
Kaz has such a tall mountain to climb in front of him, I honestly can't imagine where to start correcting past mistakes let alone trying to stay ahead of the present at the same time as to not fall behind. Incredibly hard job. Seems like the solutions for each division are easy/obvious from the outside but the implementation is probably a nightmare at this point.
God speed sir. Start at the TV division.
God speed sir. Start at the TV division.
Yeah, Sony's dun reel good dis gen! (Especially considering the starting situation, PS2 vs Xbox vs GC...)
TheNatural
My Member!
What's hilarious is Sony is still losing $2 billion. I would call Sony finishing second place a Pyrrhic victory.
I think the board of directors will give Kaz the leeway he needs to turn the ship around. Limiting Stringer's power did nothing to improve Sony's position (it probably made it worse), and after this dismal earning performance, they have no reason not to. This may be swallow, but it also doesn't hurt that Kaz is Japanese himself, helps eliminated that language and cultural gap.
Lactose_Intolerant
Member
They need to rerelease some CRT monitors. I would buy a few. My Sony fw900 died a few years ago.
Still will be a PS4. Just dont expect a super powerful money pit PS4. They will need to be profitable day one.
TheNatural
My Member!
How will they do that? They have no idea how to be profitable, hence, losing $2 billion in a holiday quarter.
Sho_Nuff82
Member
PSN marketing? Am I reading that right? How could Sony be losing money from their online store?
No expensive graphics card for one. They will need to keep the cost under $350 and retail the system for $350 to $400.
They could release a system that is a more modest upgrade on the PS3 so that they don't lose crazy amounts of money on each unit sold.
But I agree that Sony has so far shown an inability to adjust to their loss of market leader status and change their business model accordingly. They need to realise they aren't the same Sony as 10 years ago.
That's the thing though, Sony products are not cheap! In fact they are fucking expensive so I don't understand how they can lose so much money unless they are incompetent.
mysteriousmage09
Member
The comments in this thread....just wow...
The MS Board of Directors has arrived I see.
The MS Board of Directors has arrived I see.
TheNatural
My Member!
I know that it's technically possible to release a console that makes money, Nintendo does it well. It's just something Sony is functionally inept at, I don't think they even know how to do it if they tried.
Beer Monkey
Member
I personally can't see Microsoft having built as much mindshare, market share, and overall strength (platform success is based more on monthly game and accessory sales, and MS is doing REALLY well) if they hadn't launched a year early.
I think it was a good call.
I also like the PS3.
I think it was a good call.
I also like the PS3.
Basileus777
Member
Yeah, I don't understand why there isn't more positive talk about how Sony only lost $2 Billion.
demigod
Member
Exactly why I said they can't be losing money in their gaming division. I doubt the $199 bundle made them lose money, if anything it would even out with their other sales before the holiday.
ItWasMeantToBe19
Banned
Are articles about how Sony should just focus on health insurance going to start popping up on mainstream sites? Just disaster after disaster. Wonder if they'll cut the PS3 price again in 2012 if PS3 sales start to lag (like they probably will) considering that they don't seem happy with the performance of the 2011 cut.
mysteriousmage09
Member
Yes because the only way to talk about a "Sony" issue is to bring up sales for fucking Xbox. Guess that concept just blows your mind huh.
Auto_aim1
MeisaMcCaffrey
Its mostly got to do with their business model of long product life cycles. They take a loss early on so that the product will last for a long time. They need to change this next gen if they want to profitable, and concentrate on delivering better services.
Baconsammy
Banned
edit: not worth the effort.
Best of luck to Sony and the Vita.
Best of luck to Sony and the Vita.
Johnny2Bags
Member
If I started a "Pizza" company, and posted a financial summary for a year... I'd fucking compare my data with other "pizza" companies to see how i'm doing and if it's viable to continue.. asshat... so yes bringing xbox and nintendo into this is more than welcome and the logical thing to do.. unless you want to start brainstorming about advertising and things to help sony?
TheNatural
My Member!
I really don't think that has anything to do with why the PS2 has lasted so long. It was the weakest console. Their business model has more to do with taking huge losses because they thought they could make the hardware for the PS3 in house more efficiently and better than outsourcing it, and they lost their ass on it. They've basically lost all the money they made by getting into the videogame business in the first place.
Isn't it said that Vita is more or less breaking even on the business overall (hardware+software)? I think the 'Vita model' is the one they'll follow for PS4. Even the R&D on Vita - while obviously existent - was modest enough to not drag the game business into a loss for most of the last while.
They've been doing a fair bit of discounting and promotions post-PSN hack, haven't they? It seems like they've been shoveling freebies at PS+ users. Stuff like that might be negatively impacting revenue.
I also don't know if it's accounted for under 'game' but they've been doing similar promo work to attract users to the music and video services, which I guess costs them to offer...