Sony spent a lot on development, research, and production for the PlayStation 3. The Japanese consumer-electronics company learned a lot since the launch of that system and says the PS4 won’t cause the same kind of financial strain on its bottom line.
“Unlike PlayStation 3, we are not planning a major loss to be incurred with the launch of PlayStation 4,” Sony chief financial officer Masaru Kato said in a call to investors. “At the time we developed PS3, we made a lot of in-house investments to develop the [Cell chip]. Development of the chip saw the silicon processing and all the facilities invested by us ourselves.”
Sony designed the Cell chip and saddled itself with those production costs. With the PlayStation 4, Sony contracted AMD to provide a more off-the-shelf solution that will streamline production and development. Studios should also have an easier time with the AMD-based tech, since it so closely mirrors the infrastructure of a PC system.
“This time, yes we have a team working on chip development, but we already have existing technology to incorporate and also product investment and all the facilities will now be invested by our partners, other foundries, so we don’t have to make all the investment in-house,” said Kato.
At the time of the PS3’s launch, Sony passed the cost of the system on to consumers with a massive $499 and $599 price for the two debut versions of the hardware. That sticker shock caused many gamers to shy away from the PS3 early in its life.
The company still isn’t talking price for PlayStation 4, but it might want to pass its savings on to costumers this time around just to help it get off to a better start.