DraconianGamer said:
CrystalShadow said:
You can't have an economy of scale unless you actually have a lot of people buying something...
If they distributed systems that were essentially just the PS3 without the Bluray drive, wifi, and the other unnecessary systems, then you would still get the benefit of the economy of scale that the PS3 has.
You're still missing the point.
What would they be sold
for?
It's not that you can't make something like that, but you actually have to convince someone to buy it.
The PS3 is a games console. If it wasn't very few people would want one.
And no demand = no economy of scale.
Because economies of scale are based on the principle of industrial manufacturing that:
Generally, making one of something costs millions. (or even billions)
But, if you make millions of something, the cost per item goes down to hundreds, tens, or even less.
This hypothetical system you're describing has next to no demand (not many people build supercomputers), so at best it would be a by-product of producing PS3's.
And given a choice between using the parts involved to build extra PS3 consoles, or building these special devices you're thinking of, chances are you'd choose to build more PS3's.
The only reason, from a business perspective, to do otherwise, is if these modified devices being used for something other than gaming could be sold for a much higher price.
But, if they did that, we'd be back where we started, since you'd probably just get people buying PS3's instead.
