$3.3 BILLION lost so far.  Wow.

PlayStation 3’s cost to Sony so far: $3.32 billion – Joystiq:
by Ludwig Kietzmann Jun 24th 2008 9:40AM

Having sold the system at price lower than the manufacturing cost, the PlayStation 3 was a $2.16 billion endeavor in 2007, with another $1.16 billion being lost in 2008.

The $3.32 billion investment, which includes the monolithic system’s complete development and introduction, “may not be fully recovered,” according to Sony. The manufacturer warned that should the PlayStation 3 fail to reach “favorable market penetration”, it would have a “significant negative impact” on the company’s profitability.

It’s pretty common in the console industry to sell the hardware at a loss (I believe Nintendo’s the exception), hoping to recoup your costs through software licensing fees and first party game sales.  $3.3 billion is a LOT of ground to make up, and Sony… you need to get your shit together, because there just aren’t enough PS3 exclusives to convince people to buy your system.

Check out my collection (not quite done documenting everything, yet):

Xbox 360:  28 games
PS3:  6 games
Wii:  7 games

My numbers are probably typical, but the fact that Nintendo makes money on their still-impossibly-hard-to-find-console makes all the difference.

I just can’t get excited about my PS3; even MGS4 doesn’t get me hyped.  I’m waiting for Little Big Planet, but that’s about it.  BluRay?  Oh yeah:  I got an AppleTV and spend most of my time watching the content in my iTunes library, instead of BluRay movies.

=/