I think the PSN is ~$145 million in the black, though with the hack costing an estimates $171 million, it's kind of a moot issue!
Xbox Live generated 1.2 billion worth of revenue last year, about half of that coming from subscription fees.
I think the PSN is ~$145 million in the black, though with the hack costing an estimates $171 million, it's kind of a moot issue!
Xbox Live generated 1.2 billion worth of revenue last year, about half of that coming from subscription fees.
Another aspect of this is that the types of consumers being brought in this late in the generation and at much lower price points are unlikely to make much of an impact in the market. Extremely price-sensitive consumers who haven't been moved by this time by the amazing gaming experiences that have been on offer for all this time don't seem to me to be great potential sources of revenue. Unless we're talking huge numbers of them, of course, which I find unlikely.
Note that not all will be new gamers. They will include people that already own either an XBOX360 or PS3 and could be great potential sources of (games) revenue, or better yet steal a multplatform game sale away from a direct competitor.
A significant number? Especially with Nintendo poised to usher in the next generation (1/2 generation?) of consoles?
Perhaps. I don't think Nintendo could imediately shed its image for current XBOX/PS gamers. They'd need heavy duty hardware and strong (+exclusives) third-party support from the get go, neither of which have been particularly pushed in the last three Nintendo consoles. Also, PS2 is still selling (a lot) so a new next-gen console doesn't necessarily mean current-gen consoles will stagnate. When both Sony and MS launch theirs sure but not for Nintendo's I don't believe.