Sony PS4 production cost estimated at $381

I don't think so.

 

I seriously doubt it's that much.

 

IHS are extremely good at this kind of thing. They striped down the console, and they run through the costs of each chip, from memory, APU, sound, usb, etc, etc. They then estimate how much it would of cost Sony to produce each console given the fact that they would of brought these parts in bulk and at a much lower cost than actually buying them off the shelf.

They did the same with the PS3 and as far as I remember reading they were only off by $35 (remember reading this from a Sony executive years ago).

Sony were selling the PS3 at a massive loss because the console cost so much for them to make. The Cell CPU was the main culprit, they actually built their own CPU for the machine in conjunction with Toshiba and IBM (if I remember correctly). Toshiba wanted out and Sony had to buy them out of the deal which cost even more money. On paper the CELL was a good idea and had a lot of potential but it was mismanaged from the start.

Did you know that Sony has such high hopes for the CELL CPU that they were not even going to put in a dedicated GPU and just have all the games run off the CELL they believed in it so much. But developers completely refused to use it and they were all about abandon the machine and go over to the Wii and Xbox which were MUCH easier to make games for.

This is what led to them throwing in a basically a 7800 Nvidia GPU (codenamed RSX) but this also led to even more problems. As the CELL has 256MB RAM available to it, but they added a GPU that also had another 256MB RAM. They had two separate memory pools that could not talk to each other or combine in anyway which caused massive bottlenecks for third party devs trying to get their games on the system from the much easier 360 which had a unified 512MB memory pool and (I think) 4MB of XDR memory on the CPU die it self.

Sony knows now that the PS3 was a massive mistake in terms of a manufacturing stand point. It was still a success though, and is currently a head of the 360 in terms of sales by a nice 1 million units (factor in all the 360 RRoD and that number is even larger the YLoD was nowhere near as big).

Before Sony had to sell around three games with each system sold on the PS3 to even start making a profit. Now with the PS4 they sell the console and ONE game and they are in the green. Something I think they have learnt from Nintendo.

Microsoft however, just seem to be doing the complete opposite this time and are charging you £100 more for a (on paper) weaker console, with a stupid camera that I can dance around in front of or speak too. Either way the mindless dumb idiots will still rush out to buy it. It will be funny when Microsoft flip that switch and do another 180 (to come full 360 ) and make it require online to even work.

EDIT:

WOW didn't know I wrote that much LOL aranoid:

 

I'm slightly disappointed Sony isn't courageous enough to sell at a greater loss in order to boost the hardware a little further in the PS4.

All things considered, this is probably a wise strategy, as PC, tablet and smart-phone gaming may eat into console sales this generation. Even so, with numerous developers struggling to provide a good gaming experience at 1080p on either console, it doesn't exactly excite me.

 

I doubt it cost that much. I'm pretty sure Sony got discounts from vendors for buying all those parts in bulk.

 

That I can kind of agree with.

They could of took a further sales loss on the console to excite people even more and widen the gap much further when compared to the Xbox One. If they has of gone £359 instead of £399 they would of cleaned house completely.

I remember seeing a GT video around E3 saying that the Sony executives were watching the Xbox One conference with baited breathe and were extremely nervous as they were scared that Microsoft were going to go for £359 or something lower than £399 because the Exec said that they couldn't go any lower than £399 which was their bare minimum price in order to please the company directors and shareholders.

This is why I actually believe this estimate is pretty close to the truth, as Sony themselves have said that they are making a profit on the console but not much at all and that they need to sell at least one game with every machine to bring profits up to exceptable levels.

 

Looks pretty darn close I bet like CPC stated they are withing that 5% accuracy area...

I*m very disappointed in the new Consoles...im a PC gamer but this new gen console is lacking badly for being considerd the new next gen console....Im sorry but these new consoles are underpowered joke to the gaming world....I cant see people sticking to console much after this generations except kids....

The new consoels can barely run 1080p native...game devs are ready to move on...new tech is coming out PC hardware is becoming more poweeful it makes the consoles look like hand held cheap games....

AAnyways the hardware is the new consoles is a joke......I was going to get my little cousin one for Christmas....scratch that im getting him a descent PC so he game at 1080p like a man lol

 

@CPC_RedDawn
Yes i know that. That was sony mistake. But as PhazeDelta1 said, they buy a lot of parts at once, so they get difference price for those parts. They don't pay retail price.

 

This generation we are going to see a much higher RMA rate. You turn a console basically into a PC but with limited upgradability, you are going to have RMA's and lots of them! I said this a long time ago but I honestly think this will be the last Playstation or Xbox we will see. Just like any movie part 4's are never a success-even Star Wars had to wait 20 years. So, enjoy the console while you can boy and girls...

 

IHS doesn't build this report based on retail prices, at least they haven't in the past I don't see why they'd start now.

Why would they have a higher RMA rate? If anything I'd say it would be lower since it's not specialized hardware and it's all being developed and overseen by the same company.

I also don't see how entertainment media has any relevance to sales of hardware. THE FOURTH MODEL OF ANYTHING EVER MADE EVER HAS BEEN A FAILURE AS PREDICTED BY THE MOVIE INDUSTRY.

I disagree I think they hit the sweet spot here. The sales of previous generation consoles weren't great at launch due to the entry prices. Once they came down into the $300-400 range is when their sales numbers actually started kicking up and even at that point they were still selling the consoles at a loss. Sony bled big time for that in particular, in fact I still think they lose money in their entertainment division. Microsoft's XBOX division is no different.

Diminishing returns of graphics also come into play, my 690 while six times faster than console hardware isn't capable of rendering a game six times "better" whether it be speed or quality. The current console hardware provides a pretty significant jump in quality while still hitting the right price point.

 

I'd rather they add $100 or more to the cost and make it powerful enough to completely wipe Xbox off the table.

Because seriously even if it costs $600, sheeple will still craze over and buy it. As long as it offers more performance than a PC of the same cost (which it will because of optimization) people won't mind spending more because it's still a console that offers easy gaming and a living room entertainment system.

Just look at those silly brainwashed overgrown kids who have no qualms about paying $100 more for an inferior console performance-wise. oooh new Xbox?? Must have!!

 

Most funny thing is, people are actually trying to justify the + 100$ price of the Xbox One, saying the Kinect is in that price, which is ridiculous, cause Kinect is no more than 59$.
So you end up with an inferior console, you even pay 40 bucks more, cause they force you to have that Kinect crap.
Shi*, i can't believe people are even considering the Xbox One, especially after that presentation few months ago.
Brainwashed fanboys, that's it (yeah, yeah, exclusives blah blah blah).

I'm a PC guy, but i decided to buy a console, just for the fun of laying on the couch with friends and play Fifa, NBA or else that is better with a controller.
How did i decide which console to pick?
Well, 100$ less, better hardware = PS4. What else do i need to decide?
I guess i'm a Sony fanboy now.... i might as well be a Microsoft fanboy, if they didn't screw up big time.

 

Out of curiosity, in terms on performance, the GPU in the PS4 is equal to what for PC? Would it be a fair statement saying the PS4 is equal to a GTX 660?

 

If you base the sale of everything on movies....Buyers of Ford, Honda, Toyota, Chevrolet and Hyundai apparently weren't paying attention. All of their 4th gen vehicles outsold the previous generations.... The Ford F150 alone is on it's 12th generation.....it's 4th generation was back in the 60's (1961-1966 actually)....

Honestly, you come up with the dumbest ****.

Movies are completely different from any other product on the market. By your theory, the Pentium4 should have been dead in the water. Same with Haswell (the 4th generation Core series).... Your beloved NVidia should have also seen absolutely no success with the GeForce4 series that so many have such fond memories of....and of course, 3DFx should have died with the Voodoo4 cards.... Movies tend to die prior to a 4th release because the storyline and character development comes "full circle" prior to that point. The movie industry is the only one that actually suffers from such a feat...

 

Wouldn't the cost of the functionality provided by the Kinect be factored into it as well? Or the exclusive titles?

I don't think a single person buying the Xbox One is like "WELL GEE THAT KINECT IS WORTH $59.37 AND THAT EXTRA PLASTIC THAT MAKES UP THE LARGER CASE IS THE REST SO THE PRICE IS JUSTIFIED" its more like "Well I want a cool media control system in my living room and play Halo 5 so it's worth $100 more for me".

But no obviously those people are just brainwashed fanboy's. Right.

 

It is a fact of life that is all. Think about it though, everything seems to stop at 3 with the exception of cars and stuff obviously. Did you ever ask yourself why

Microsoft never bothered with using 1, 2 or 3 with there Xbox?

Notice how the Xbox (one) which is really part 3 never used the 3 tag?

 

7870 has been mentioned

 

Yeah you come with with some stupid ****.

 

A fact of life? The F150, which has been in production since 1948...says your "fact" is actually fiction. And there are even movies that defy your logic. Resident Evil, for instances, has had more than 4 movies and is still popular. The "Fast and Furious" movie series has 6 movies so far....with more planned. Naming schemes don't change "facts". NVidia has made no attempt to hide how many generations of GeForce cards have existed. Microsoft isn't attempting to hide how many generations of Xbox consoles have been released. Nintendo isn't hiding how many generations of their console have existed (which is 6 in the US). The PS4 is selling quite well so far.... All the "Facts" prove you wrong....as usual.