PS3 price reduction blamed for Sony Q3 losses

Sony has posted financial results for the third quarter of the 2011 fiscal year, with a notable decline in revenue and a swing to losses year-over-year recorded for its Consumer Products & Services division, which houses its PlayStation business. The company said that the losses were due in part to the higher marketing costs for promoting its network service platforms, and the lower revenue from PlayStation 3 hardware as a result of the price reduction in 2011. Sony dropped the price of the PS3 worldwide in August 2011, and also blamed this price drop for its losses in the second quarter of the current fiscal year. Sony also blamed a decrease in LCD television sales for declines in the third quarter, as well as deteriorating market conditions in developed countries and the impact of floods in Thailand. For the quarter ended December 31, 2011, the company's Consumer Products & Services division posted revenue of ¥996.5 billion ($13.1 billion), down 24.4 percent compared to ¥1.3 trillion yen ($17.3 billion) for the same quarter in the previous fiscal year. As for profits, the division recorded operating losses of ¥85.7 billion ($1.13 billion), compared to profits of ¥63.5 billion ($834.8 million) year-over-year. Overall, Sony posted revenue of ¥1.8 trillion ($24.0 billion), down 17.4 percent compared to ¥2.2 trillion year-over-year, and losses of ¥159.0 billion ($2.1 billion) compared to profits of ¥72.3 billion ($950.5 million) in the same quarter of the previous fiscal year.