Sony Announces Reduced Profit For Game Division

Sony Corp. has announced its overall financial results for its third financial quarter of 2004, ending December 31st, and has posted a somewhat disappointing 13 percent fall in overall profit compared to the previous year. Although multiple types of consumer electronics were responsible for Sony's profit decline, with the rise of Apple's iPod in the portable audio market specifically mentioned, the company's game unit fared especially badly. The game unit reported a 37 percent fall in operating profit, to 44.6 billion yen ($432 million) and a 23 percent fall in sales to 282.6 billion yen ($2.74 billion), particularly citing hardware price cuts and reduced sales of the PlayStation 2, although paradoxically, hardware shipments to stores increased. The company's full hardware production schedule (not all of which had necessarily sold through to consumers) included PlayStation 2 shipments of 7.39 million units (an increase of 0.56 million units from the same time last year), PS one shipments of 0.84 million units (a decrease of 0.18 million units), and PSP shipments of 0.51 million units. As for worldwide software shipments, the PlayStation 2 showed production totals of 109 million units (an increase of 5 million units), PlayStation totals of 3 million units (a decrease of 7 million units), and early PSP totals of 1.3 million units. Sony also made it clear that the PSP handheld is the game unit's big hope going forward, at least until the PlayStation 3 appears on the horizon. According to Reuters, Sony Senior Vice President Takao Yuhara commented: "We are making efforts so the PSP will contribute to profits in the 2005/06 business year. And I expect it to."