Rumor: Leaked minutes from Sega/Sony meeting reveal PS2 and Dreamcast on PSN, much mo

[BreakABone]

Hmm, well the price was a risk, but don't think for the reasons you think... anyhow.

I think Sony's biggest risk/blunder/whatever was putting as much faith in Hi-Def adaption rates as they did. I mean the price would have been a lot cheaper or cheaper somewhat without the inclusion of blu-ray, I mean sure an add-on would have been a pain, but gives the people who want it the option to shell out some money.

Granted, I assume they expected a repeat of the Ps2 where being a DVD player helped push it early on in the generation, but blu ray while awesome still hasn't caught on.

If you sell a product at a 150 dollar loss, and it is still way over the average market value for a console especially a successful one, I wouldn't consider it a risk as much as dumb business, but that's me.

[Thespis721]

My point of view is more grand scheme then individual, which is how SONY views it. Selling things at a loss is a common business practice. We see it all the time. You ever go to one of those stores, like in Times Square, and they are busy and are doing business, but given the cost of rental, there's no way they are turning a profit from the store? That's called a loss leader. It's a common business practice where you put out something, even though it individually loses you money, so that it can have an overall profitable impact. Whether that be for name recognition, value, and results in selling elsewhere.

SONY and Microsoft do the same thing when they sell their systems at a loss. You could look at it as a risk, but all business tactics have some degree of risk. But in the overall standpoint, selling at a loss is less a risk then you would think.