PS3 sales down as Sony posts loss

Sony Corporation has released its financial results for the first quarter of its fiscal year, which reveals it was hit with a loss of ¥15.45 billion (£121.3 million). Over the same period last year it posted a profit of ¥25.6 billion (£201 million).

The Consumer Products and Services division, which includes Sony's PlayStation business, saw sales revenue fall almost 18 per cent to ¥732.3 billion (£5.75 billion) and operating income fall by a staggering 94.1 per cent to ¥1.7 billion (£13.35 million).

Sales of PlayStation 3 hardware fell 25 per cent year on year, with just 1.8 million units sold worldwide. PlayStation 2 sales fell to 1.4 million, but sales of the ageing PSP handheld rose 50 per cent to 1.8 million units.

Despite falling hardware sales, PS3 software sales increased during the quarter, with 26.1 million games sold, a rise of 5.2 per cent. PS2 games fell to 1.5 million, and PSP game sales dropped 28 per cent to 6.6 million.

Sony said that declines in sales and operating income were largely down to the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami that struck Japan in March, but notes that affected operations were recovering faster than initially forecast.