Report: Sony Loses $50 for Each PS3 Sold Today

From DailyTech: Sony's PS3 game console is popular among many gamers, but faces significant competition from the Xbox 360 and the Nintendo Wii. Much of the pressure placed on the PS3 by the other two major game consoles is one of price.

One of the reasons that the PS3 is still priced well above some versions of the Xbox 360 and the Nintendo Wii is because the components and technology used in the PS3 make it more expensive to build. It's hard for Sony to cut the price of its console when the system is already being sold at a major loss.

When the PS3 first launched in 2006, iSuppli tore the system down and found that it cost Sony about $840 to build the version of the PS3 selling for $599 at the time, accounting for a loss of around $240 per PS3 sold. Sony expected to make the money up on the backend with game and accessory sales.

The basic PS3 console, which sold for $499 in 2006, cost Sony only slightly less to build at $805 according to iSuppli. After two years of availability, iSuppli has again performed a teardown of the PS3 and found that Sony is still losing money on the console.

The bright light for the electronics giant is that despite still selling at a loss, the PS3 is losing much less money today than it did in 2006. The research firm reports that the PS3 costs Sony about $448 to build and the system sells for $399. The loss Sony is now taking on the PS3 amounts to about $50.

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