A report out of Total Video Games claims that during a conference call for overseas investors, Sony Corp. CEO and executive vice president Nobuyuki Oneda stated that the manufacturing costs for the PlayStation 3 have dropped by a whopping 70 percent. This would mark one of only a small handful of times that Sony has revealed any specifics about the costs associated with production of the current-gen console. However, most analysts agree that when the PS3 first came out, it cost Sony as much as $800 per system; meaning that Sony was selling the PS3 at a loss. A report in January of 2008 stated that Sony had reduced its manufacturing costs by about 50%, meaning that each PS3 cost the company $400. If the number Oneda gave yesterday is accurate, the current cost of production for each PS3 now stands at about $240.

This does soften the blow of yesterday's news of losses across the board for Sony's PS line, since if each system costs less, there is less money to lose when sales go down. There is also no indication from Oneda as to whether or not these reduced production costs are due to the creation of the still-rumored PlayStation 3 Slim. Still, if the systems are costing less to make, and selling fewer units, it seems as though all signs are pointing to a PlayStation 3 price cut.

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