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[Excelion]

it wasn't a mistake. With Sony/Nintendo's model you cant build and launch a console in 18 months, Xbox would have been released in 2002: way too late to the party. They had the choice to wait a generation or launch in 2001 at a cost.

 

[Taibhse]

They might as well have been ordering parts from newegg for every console built, for the price they were paying.

 

[jarrod]

Same applied to SCE since it was first formed. EE and GS costs were theirs.

Well... theirs and SEL's.

Both Sony and MS have used creative methods to offload/hide costs associated with PlayStations or Xboxes. But that's one of the advanatges of being part of a larger company.

 

[Pimpwerx]

Well... theirs and SEL's.

Both Sony and MS have used creative methods to offload/hide costs associated with PlayStations or Xboxes. But that's one of the advanatges of being part of a larger company.

Good point. I wondered years back how they deferred the costs of those fabs, but just figured it wiped out the large profits they made from PS1 sales. Afterall, they were making a lot of revenue and still posting a neg balance around the PS2 launch. But if SEL was offloading some of that cost, then that would make sense. PEACE.

 

[Donnie]

Four billion is probably the equivalent of a t-bone steak to Bill Gates.

Not exactly no, its about 10% of Microsofts profit over the course of those 4 years. So while its easy to see how they can take the loss there's no getting past the fact that its a significant loss (it would be like Nintendo losing $600 million).