On Tuesday, during the Games Convention Developers Conference, Dave Perry, of the Shiny Entertainment studio, presented his take on the gaming industry. When he got to the console part of his statement, he mentioned some market research results he received from research company DFC Intelligence.

The numbers he received say Sony has recorded bigger losses from commercializing its PlayStation 3 console than it managed to bring in from selling its PlayStation 2; these statistics apply for all the five years the company had been riding the wave. According to some, these losses could add up to no less than $3 billion.

Although this is quite common with videogame makers, to start selling hardware with a planned loss in mind, so that later on, the costs can be covered by selling software products, Sony’s situation is definitely not in the green. There is an exception to the aforementioned rule: obviously enough, we are talking about Nintendo's Wii; as some estimations say, the company has been making at least $40 for each sold unit since day one.

There still are chances for the company to get back its investment; although the PS2 has been on the market for eight years now, the sales for 2007 placed it before the Xbox 360 and the PS3. Despite some initial losses, the PS2 eventually reached sales of more than 120 million units all over the world. If the PS3 also has such a long run, and there aren’t any reasons to prevent it from doing so, it might just manage to bring in a profit for Sony.