The XBox 360 is out and about - if you live in the USA. This is Microsoft’s second attempt at the games console market.

The XBox was their first attempt, falling into second in some markets (USA/UK) but third in most (Rest of the world). XBox 1 lost Microsoft an estimated (meaning no-one but Microsoft really can be sure) four billion dollars. That isn’t a typo, they lost 200 dollars per unit sold, plus the cost of XBox Live, development costs and advertising and so on.

I expect XBox 360 will also be a loss leader, propped up by the other Microsoft sections, like Office and Windows. Sony also made huge losses on the Playstation 2, though it is reportidly in the black now (Can’t find anything backing that up.) Sony itself is still in deep trouble.

The consumer electronics and entertainment giant reported a second-quarter loss of 7.3bn yen (£37m), down from a 23.3bn yen profit a year ago.

Merrill Lynch has released some thoughts about Sony in the next couple of fiscal years. They predict that the PS3 will cost around 54,000 yen (~$490) to manufacture. Sony has announced that they are shooting for the expensive but more moderate price of 44,800 yen (~$410) in Japan and $400 bucks in the US. Lynch expects that this will lead to around a 130 billion yen loss for Sony.

The only console maker that is constantly in the black and is secure financially is Nintendo.

Sales between April and December last year (2004) hit $4.146 billion, whilst profits of $325.4 million were also revealed.

Profits were down 17% in the last quarter of 2005 on last years figures, but Nintendo still made 630.6 million dollars.

It also can’t be understated that Nintendo saw a profit in its last quarter. By comparison, Sony Computer Entertainment today reported a quarterly loss of 5.9 billion yen ($52.6 million). Last week, Microsoft’s Home and Entertainment division, which makes the Xbox, said it lost $179 million during its last quarter.

Gizmodo unpacks there 360 here:
Unpacking The Xbox 360 - Gizmodo

A console that I will never purchase, just like the orginal XBox. Why? Cost, style and games. While the PS3 interests me I’m really looking forward to the Nintendo Revolution.

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