by Anton Shilov
02/21/2006 | 06:24 PM
Sony’s PlayStation 3 game console may face delay as a result of difficulties with manufacturing of key components as well as high costs of materials, according to a report from Merrill Lynch research company. The firm suggests that initially the PlayStation 3 building cost will be as high as about $900.
<%BANNER[article]%>Merrill Lynch analyst from Japan Hitoshi Kuriyama said that the company may not only delay the launch of the PlayStation 3 to cut down its losses, as it will not be able to sell its console for more than $400 - $500, but also limit the number of manufactured units. According to Mr. Kuriyama, there would be 2 – 3 million PlayStation 3 consoles available in 2006.
Currently Merrill Lynch assumes that 1.2 million PS3 game consoles will be sold in North America and 0.5 million in Europe in 2006 and 6 million in North America and 5 million in
“Sony’s decision to implement an ambitious new processor architecture – the Cell – not only took a great deal of design effort, but also has resulted in a processor that we think will cost Sony at least $230 per unit initially,” a report by Merrill Lynch states.
According to the research company, the most expensive component of the PlayStation 3 will be its Blu-ray disk drive, which will initially cost $350. The second most expensive part of the gaming machine will be the Cell processor which will cost Sony “at least” $230 per unit to make. Nvidia’s RSX graphics processor will cost $70, while for 256MB of XDR memory as well as 256MB of GDDR3 memory Sony will have to pay $50, believes Merrily Lynch. In total, the price may reach $900 just to manufacture one PlayStation 3 console.
In three years time after launch the cost of manufacturing the PS3 can reach $320, believes the research firm. Merrill Lynch notes that the price of two most expensive components – the Cell processor and the Blu-ray optical drive – can tumble significantly already in 2007 when the microprocessor is shifted to 65nm production technology, while the Blu-ray drives reaches high-volume manufacturing.
“There are additional reports that delays have surfaced on the Nvidia-designed RSX graphics processor,” the report also read.
Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. did not comment on the news-story.