Sony's Networked Services Division, which houses the company’s PlayStation and VAIO businesses, recorded falling sales and increased losses in the second quarter ended September 30.

Sales decreased 24.2 per cent year-on-year to 352.6 billion yen ($3.9b/£2.3b), while the division made an operating loss of 58.8 billion yen ($646m/£390m), a deterioration of 18.2 billion ($200m/£121m) compared to the second quarter of the previous fiscal year.

“Sales in the game business decreased year-on-year primarily as a result of the impact of the appreciation of the yen as well as a decrease in unit sales of PlayStation 2 hardware and software,” the company said.

“In the game business, the deterioration in profitability was mainly due to a decrease in PS2 hardware and software unit sales, and the impact of the appreciation of the yen. The deterioration in profitability for VAIO PCs was due to the reasons noted above that contributed to lower sales."

The company sold 3.2 million PS3s, up from 2.4 million units in the same quarter of the prior fiscal year. PSP sales were down from 3.2 million to 3 million, while PS2 sales declined from 2.5 million to 1.9 million.

23.9 million PS3 titles were sold, up from 21.2 million during the second quarter of 2008. PSP game sales were up from 11.8 million to 12.9 million, but PS2 software sales more than halved, from 23.2 million to 11.1 million.