14 DAY TRIAL // Sony is not yet managing to turn a profit but it's results for the first fiscal quarter of this year are significantly better than those posted for the same period of last year. The company managed to move from losses of 36.7 billion Yen, which is the equivalent of 422.1 million dollars, to only being in the red by 3.8 billion Yen, close to about 32 million dollars. And it seems that a lot of the better than expected results are linked to the PlayStation 3 and its relaunch in August 2009.
The Networked Products and Services division of Sony, which includes its PlayStation 3 and its PC operations, has seen overall sales increase by 32 percent, with the bulk linked to how the Slim version of the PlayStation 3, which looks better, has a lower price and uses less power, managed to attract a significant number of customers. During the first fiscal quarter 2.4 million console were sold, compared to just 1.1 million during the same period of 2009. Sales of software also went up, meaning that 10 million more video games were sold to players.
Although sales of the handheld are lagging the software segment of the PlayStation Portable also saw an increase over 2009. The biggest decline was linked to the older PS2, from 8.5 million copies to 3.4 million, although the console itself still managed to sell 1.6 million devices. The company is widely thought to be working on a new version of the PSP which could be unveiled at the Tokyon Games Show.
The future of the PlayStation 3 is linked to two significant new pieces of technology. The console is set to get more three dimensional powered games during the autumn, set to take advantage of the possibilities of new Sony made television sets. During September Sony will also launch the PlayStation Move, a motion tracking solution that will rival Microsoft's Kinect and will make the PS3 a direct competitor for the Nintendo Wii.