PS4 hardware loss will be recouped with PS Plus and game sales, Sony says

Sony expects to take an unspecified loss on PlayStation 4 hardware when the system launches later this year, but will quickly recoup those losses on the sale of games and PlayStation Plus subscriptions, senior VP Masayasu Ito said in a roundtable interview today.

Ito said the sale of peripherals will also help contribute to initial losses on PS4 hardware, a figure he said he couldn't comment on.

"I cannot talk in detail about the [financial] contribution of each item," Ito said through a translator, "but in terms of cost of development it's very different from the PlayStation 3. We will be able to recover what we have invested earlier [than with PS3]."

Earlier this year, Sony's chief financial officer Masaru Kato said the company was "not planning a major loss to be incurred with the launch of PS4," as it did last generation.

The PS4 will retail for $399 when it launches in North America on Nov. 15. The console goes on sale in Europe on Nov. 29 for €399/£349. Sony said earlier this week that it expects to sell 5 million PS4 consoles by the end of March 2014.