Technology analysis firm iSuppli confirms what many — including financial analysts at Merrill Lynch and elsewhere — had suspected as far back as last February that for each 60 GB PS3 model sold in the US for a retail price of $599, Sony loses an estimated $241.35; and for each 20 GB model sold for $499, the manufacturer loses $306.85, according to Betanews.
In recent analyses of Xbox 360 sales, the software attach rate has jumped to about 5 – which is considered high, with 4 usually being the industry’s high water-mark. But when Xbox 360 premiered at this time last year, the software attach rate was believed to be closer to 3. Based on data supplied by Amazon, the one-year-old Xbox 360 with about 140 game titles currently available from Amazon.com, versus 33 for the PS3. For Sony to sell enough software alone to make up for what iSuppli projects it loses per 20 GB PS3 sold here, its software attach rate would have to be a nearly-impossible 6.
This means Sony must rely on sales of accessories and other gear in the hopes of breaking even, for a release that has already been constrained by supply shortages of critical equipment.
According to iSuppli’s data, the Blu-ray optical drive is the second most expensive single component in the PS3, at a cost of $125 per unit. Just ahead of that is nVidia’s Reality Synthesizer GPU at $129. IBM’s Cell BE CPU — whose processing power has been likened to that of a supercomputer by standards set just a few years ago — costs Sony a mere $89 per unit. Seagate supplies the SATA hard drive, costing Sony $43 for the 20 GB model and $54 for the 60 GB model.
Why does Sony lose less on the more expensive PS3? Because it only costs Sony an additional $35.50 per unit to produce the 60 GB unit, though it sells for $100 more.
