Wasn't a big part of Sony's losses because they sold one of their businesses? (I think it was pc's)

Wouldn't a business sale be a big gain on their revenue for this year?

To call this out this early would be wrong.

PS4 and X-Box One will be successful consoles (even if they could be the last).

Xbox one "not selling well" and the agglomerate Sony loss are two hardly well manipulated piece of evidence. The former being far too subjective (was is "not selling well, really?) and the latter being part of a much larger issue at hand.

I'd go as far as calling out that putting a console to market isn't necessarily a profitable thing per se, in fact, you probably end up losing a lot of money (that no quantity of console sale can fix). Consoles don't generate the bulk of their income from direct sales. Give it time folks...

To call this out this early would be wrong. ... Consoles don't generate the bulk of their income from direct sales. Give it time folks...

Both Microsoft and Sony sell their consoles at a loss. Nintendo didn't sell either the Wii U or the Wii for a loss, and so both consoles were making a profit for every sale from day one.

The Wii U has sold about 6M units, and every one of those has been with a profit. They gained a few million dollars in the process from hardware sales.

The XBox One has sold about 5M units, with around a $75 loss per unit. So their market share that cost them $350M.

The PS4 has sold about 7M units, each with around $150 loss. They have slightly more units out there, but they lost a billion dollars to accomplish it.


While all of them have a roughly 1/3 market share, they have +$30M, -$350M, and -$1050M in hardware sales. Headlines from a few weeks ago proclaimed "PS4 sales exceed WiiU lifetime", they could have also read "WiiU profits exceeds $1B vs PS4"

The story was similar in the previous generation. Nintendo isn't particularly bothered by the other consoles selling more units, and are laughing on their way to the bank.

Wouldn't a business sale be a big gain on their revenue for this year?

Tends not to be the case; I'm no marketing/sales guy but from what I've seen dumping a division tends to be a costly process.

Probably because of the amount of admin/red tape they have to jump through, share holder issues, redundancy pay and the like - all that gets heaped on top of an already loss developing department.

Both Microsoft and Sony sell their consoles at a loss. Nintendo didn't sell either the Wii U or the Wii for a loss, and so both consoles were making a profit for every sale from day one.

Isn't Nintendo still getting royalties from Sony and Microsoft using their patented D-Pad controller input in their gamepads?

That being said, Sony and Microsoft still benefit a lot from post-launch licensing.

Isn't Nintendo still getting royalties from Sony and Microsoft using their patented D-Pad controller input in their gamepads?

First, Sony and Microsoft's D-pads are implemented differently than Nintendo's, so they were never paying Nintendo royalties in the first place.

Second, that patent expired in 2005 anyway.

Wouldn't a business sale be a big gain on their revenue for this year? :huh:

Tends not to be the case; I'm no marketing/sales guy but from what I've seen dumping a division tends to be a costly process.Probably because of the amount of admin/red tape they have to jump through, share holder issues, redundancy pay and the like - all that gets heaped on top of an already loss developing department.

Not sure, I've only been on the other side of the line, acquiring a company. This definately brings revenue up :) If I'm correct in this case Sony lost both costs (positive) as revenue (downside), if the pc business wasn't profitable as they did it, then it'll bring them a higher ebitda (profit) but definately significant lower revenue.

Isn't Nintendo still getting royalties from Sony and Microsoft using their patented D-Pad controller input in their gamepads?

First, Sony and Microsoft's D-pads are implemented differently than Nintendo's, so they were never paying Nintendo royalties in the first place.

Second, that patent expired in 2005 anyway.

At least Nintendo isn't paying royalties for rumble-packs controllers.

(Both Microsoft and Sony are, to a third-party company)

Once you go PC you never go back. As an avid console gamer as a kid I quickly realized even years ago that PC gaming was much better. And with such deals as the HUMBLE BUNDLE and Steams daily deals its no surprise that the money hungry console makers are finally getting what they deserve. PC GAMER FOR LIFE!

To call this out this early would be wrong. ... Consoles don't generate the bulk of their income from direct sales. Give it time folks...

Both Microsoft and Sony sell their consoles at a loss. Nintendo didn't sell either the Wii U or the Wii for a loss, and so both consoles were making a profit for every sale from day one.

The Wii U has sold about 6M units, and every one of those has been with a profit. They gained a few million dollars in the process from hardware sales.

The XBox One has sold about 5M units, with around a $75 loss per unit. So their market share that cost them $350M.

The PS4 has sold about 7M units, each with around $150 loss. They have slightly more units out there, but they lost a billion dollars to accomplish it.


While all of them have a roughly 1/3 market share, they have +$30M, -$350M, and -$1050M in hardware sales. Headlines from a few weeks ago proclaimed "PS4 sales exceed WiiU lifetime", they could have also read "WiiU profits exceeds $1B vs PS4"

The story was similar in the previous generation. Nintendo isn't particularly bothered by the other consoles selling more units, and are laughing on their way to the bank.

Where are you getting your loss numbers from, because last information from MS was they were breaking even on the console itself.