Sony Games Division Moves Into Black In Q3

Officials from Sony Corp. have release details of the company’s third financial quarter, for the three months ended December 31st, 2007. The group as a whole saw net income rise 25 percent to ¥200.2 billion ($1.89bn), while sales rose by 9.6 percent to ¥2.86 trillion ($26.93bn). The company’s net income result was well above analyst expectations of ¥190.4 billion, with revenues also higher than the ¥2.75 trillion expected. Significantly, the company’s game division recorded a profit for the first time since the PlayStation 3’s launch, with operating income up from a loss of ¥54.2 billion ($510.4m) the previous year to a positive figure of ¥12.9 billion ($121.5m). Sales were up by 31.2 percent to ¥581.2 billion ($5.47bn). The operating income increase was specifically attributed to a successful reduction in PlayStation 3 hardware costs, despite a year-on-year decrease in profits from the PlayStation 2. Despite this, the company has lowered its full year sales targets for the PlayStation 3 from 11 million units to 9.5 million. However, it raised targets for the PSP from 10 million to 13 million units. Worldwide hardware unit sales for the PlayStation 3 hit 4.90 million during the three month period, an increase of 3.24 million units from the previous year. PSP sales were up 1.05 million to 5.76 million, while PlayStation 2 console sales were down 1.35 million to 5.40 million units. The company sold 26.0 million units of PlayStation 3 software (up 20.7 million) and 60.9 million units of PlayStation 2 titles (down 17.7 million). The PSP sold only 18.3 million units of software, down 3.0 million on the previous year, highlighting a schism between the format’s hardware and software performance. Following these results, the company has revised its full year forecasts, projecting net income up 3 percent to ¥340 billion ($3.20bn). Operating profit estimates have been reduced from ¥450 billion ($4.24bn) to ¥410 billion ($3.86bn) while full year sales projections remain unchanged.