Sony: Wii's Business Is Superior But Doesn't Hurt Us

Sony: Wii's Business Is Superior But Doesn't Hurt Us

Sony CEO Howard Stringer admitted that Nintendo adopted a "superior business model" than Sony's, but noted that this doesn't hurt Sony.

"The Wii is a well-made device that has found a new target group. For a while, we held the same target group with the SingStar karaoke game. But perhaps we neglected to pursue that avenue," Stringer told Deutsch news site, Die Welt. "PlayStation games are rather designed for those who play a lot. Although it's a different strategy, it pays off. We currently have a production bottleneck with the PlayStation 3."

"You also know, however, that our business model is not perfect, and that we make a loss on every console we sell," he conceded. "Nintendo makes money with the hardware alone, which may be a superior business model. But the Wii is not succeeding at our expense - it is not hurting us."

Stringer then said that Sony "are already making more money with the games than we are losing with the hardware", but when he was asked when asked if Sony would recover the USD 3 billion it spent on bringing PS3 to market, his answer was: "Not for as long as I live."