Sony: PS4 profitable on hardware alone, ‘likely’ to exceed PS2 earnings

Sony is betting heavily on their gaming division this fiscal year, with lofty expectations to match, but new developments from the company suggest that’s a surprisingly safe bet.

During a corporate strategy meeting today, Sony boss Kaz Hirai said “it is likely that PS4 will become the platform which exceeds the profits earned with PS2.” Seeing as how PlayStation 2 is the best-selling console in history, those are high hopes indeed.

However, consoles themselves are not favored when it comes to profitability. The standard business model for new hardware is to take a loss on initial sales which is then recouped through digital services. Profit is sacrificed for the sake of putting enough units in the market to support game endeavors, turning the launch of most systems into an endurance race.

It seems that is not the case with PS4. “The PS4 has already recorded a profit with hardware alone,” Hirai said, “and in that it’s different from the business model of previous platforms.”

[DualShockers, Eurogamer]