
Analyst P.J. McNealy of American Technology Research told a select group of marketers at an MI6 luncheon that the PlayStation 3's complexity could act as a significant hurdle in the early phases of console production.
He continued, "While Sony has certain manufacturing advantages at the end of the day, this is a very complex process, and they're going to be limited to the yields that they can come up with."
"We've learned the Sony Playstation 3 is not just a game console. It's a movie platform. It's also a super-computer," McNealy said, referring to Sony Computer Entertainment president Ken Kutaragi's recent revelations. "This is now the most complex box that's ever been built in this industry. It's going to have a Cell processor, it's going to have a Blu-ray drive. The number of pieces that are going into this box are even more astounding [than the over 1700 parts used in the Xbox 360]."

Wedbush Securities analyst Michael Pachter believes the next Xbox console might be already dead due to Microsoft embracing Game Pass at $30.
Wouldn't it be the case of Pachter finally agreeing with parts of us rather than we agreeing with him?
I remember vividly that back in the day when GP was introduced and shaped further, many of us were saying that it's a great service on one hand. But were also already skeptical, too, as to how Microsoft would be able to keep the service running financially in the future.
Or/and how it would affect studios and game development in general.
As of March 2026, I think we have the answers some of us anticipated back then, when it was still Pachter who had forecasted «100 million subscribers».
Likely the next Xbox will have a premium price tag so they have some profit margin on the low numbers they sell. We all know that the bulk of revenue will come from 3rd party sales on other devices and perhaps some from game pass.
And even Gamepass flopped. The end goal of Gamepass was to be hegemonic, to kill game purcahses with subscriptions. But that never happened. Game sales are still thriving, Gamepass' subscriber count has stalled, it's costly for MS and studios and its price is increasing.
The purchase of Activision allows them to hide Gamepass' failure. Not suprising that gamepass was removed from Nadella yearly bonus, they knew they would never hit the targets.
I am not a Pachter fan , but I have to agree...who would have though. It used to be to sell cheaper hardware that is subsidised by First party game sales in the first few years until you can reach millions owning the console and by that time you can cheapen your hardware because the tech have been revised. With gamepass on everything and developers losing sales that option is now limited. With the onset of more options for games and developers going for Gass gambling FOMO style games and dlc consumers have become rightfully picky. Add that to growing hardware prices and escalating ram and pandering to society... it kills a brand. Most og gamers are gonna find you out and stay away. Put on the pressure of companies demanding higher revenue for sales, the poor developer has no other option to put a new coat of paint on a copy of another successful game. Innovation , what we are looking for doesn't happen a lot because the danger of failing could lead to budget cuts and them letting you go...so you play it safe and make a copy of a copy. Yes we get genres and types but 80% is the same game we have had for ages. So then because you are scared you let them put it on gamepass and you know you know at least what you get.

Nintendo announced Friday that several of its long-time partners, including DeNA, will sell off some ¥300 billion in company shares.

Digital intelligence and analytics firm Sensor Tower has released its State of Gaming 2026 report, revealing flat growth in mobile game revenue, double-digit growth for PC and console gaming, and another record year for PC, with more games sold on Steam than ever before.
This is just another way of saying "guess what, there's only going to be one per store, don't bother"
"Sony, we don’t think, is going to be in assembly for another four to six weeks--end of July, early August"
um, that seems a little late... they haven't even started producing the PS3 retail version yet?!
so low yields and no ability for fast cost reduction?
great plans sony!
Sony's optimistic (whats new?) but no one else is. I really hope this turns out like the 360 release b/c I'm tired of reading how Sony is king, they have weaknesses like everyone else. I think I'll wait till next year for the ps3, maybe walk into a store on Oct. 30th and buy a Wii.
It's my personel opinion that sony should go on and just push back the release date til' 07 or even 08 if need be. How much would it suck that they put it out in a rush at six hundred bucks a pop only to have everyone returning them. If i was a sony fan, i'd definitely wait. The launch systems will be extremly buggy.