Ben-DutkaAfter a string of quarterly losses, Sony is now back in the black, thanks in part to a machine that at one time drained the barrel.
Sony's latest numbers show profits of 25.7 billion yen ($295.2 million) for the quarter spanning April through June, which is way up from the 37.1 billion yen ($426.7 million) loss posted this time last year. Overall earnings hit 1.66 trillion yen ($190.9 billion), which is up from 1.56 trillion yen ($179.4 billion) for the year prior. A good part of this rise can be attributed to Sony's Networked Product and Services Division (of which Sony Computer Entertainment is a part), as this portion of the company saw sales increase 32.4% in a year-over-year comparison. The division still suffered a loss of 3.8 billion yen ($43 million), but that's still an improvement of 32.9 billion yen ($378.5 million) in the year-over-year analysis. Sony blames this latest loss on "poor exchange rates due to a strong yen."
Sony stated that the division's improved performance was due to "decreased production costs and increased demand for the PlayStation 3," which has enjoyed numerous sales leaps since the console fell in price to $299 last fall. Sony also noted better sales of VAIO PCs. During the quarter in question, Sony sold 2.4 million PS3 units, which is 200,000 more than last year's same quarter; 1.2 million PSPs and 1.6 million PS2s were also sold. As for PS3 games, retailers sold 24.8 million PS3 titles, along with 9.2 million PSP games and 1.6 million PS2 games. And yes, Sony did indeed hit their goal of selling 13 million PS3s during the financial year that ended on March 31. The next prediction? 15 million for the current fiscal year. At the same time, they are predicting falling sales for both the PSP and PS2, which probably isn't surprising.
Now, will things like PlayStation Move and increased interest in 3D continue to help the PS3…?