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Nintendo sold around 130,000 units of the DS gaming console compared to just 100,000 PlayStation 2 consoles last month. In fact, it was for the third consecutive month that the DS outsold the PS2 in Japan. However, the surprise of the reports was the most popular game sold last month. ‘Kabutomushi Oja: Mushi King’, a game developed for the Sega’s Game Boy Advance console was the most popular game last month with sales of around 220,000 units.
It was followed by ‘Drag-on Dragoon 2’, a game developed for the PlayStation 2, which sold 170,000 units. ‘No wo kitaeru otona no DS training’ for the Nintendo DS was the third most popular game in the Japanese market with 120,000 copies sold in the market. The overall sales for the month of June were 62.5% more than the units sold in June last year.
With the DS outselling the PS2 Merrill Lynch Japan has suggested after a study that the Sony PlayStation 3 might cost as much as USD (United States Dollars) 490 to the entertainment giant Sony. And the rumored reported price that the company is planning to charge for each unit is around USD 399. This means that Sony might be absorbing as much as USD 100 on each unit shipped of the upcoming Sony PlayStation 3.
The expected sale of this next generation gaming device from Sony would result in potentially a USD 1.18 billion loss for the company in the first year itself. Merrill Lynch has taken into consideration expected prices of the Blu-Ray drive, Cell chip, and RSX graphics processor at around USD 101. The rest of the components and packaging would cover up the rest of the expected price.
It is not new for gaming companies to make a loss on the gaming unit shipped to the market. They make their profits on the accessories and software supplied on a later stage. The problem with Sony in this particular case is that it is still going to be at least around USD 100 expensive when compared to its prime competitor Microsoft Xbox 360 which is expected to be priced at USD 299.
Add to it the fact that Microsoft would be launching their Xbox 360 later this year itself, which is around 6-7 months before the probable launching date of the Sony PlayStation 3… Sony might have a problem. Moreover, Microsoft has got such a financial position that they can play the price game and force Sony to make further losses on their gaming console by announcing further price cuts. It might take more than a couple of years for Sony to make their PS3 profitable. In comparison, PS2 was profitable in its second year of running itself.
All these estimated prices are of course not official and Sony would definitely have their figures straightened out to face the competition from Microsoft. However, one thing is for certain… They seem to be taking the shape of an underdog in the battle of the next generation gaming consoles.
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