Sony Says Gaming Division Is Leading the Way to Profit

Sony has issued a very positive statement, saying that it will report smaller losses than it previously announced, its gaming business being one portion of the company performing better than expected and is setting the pace for the future. Sony expects to lose about 440 million dollars, which is significantly lower than the 751 million it announced at the beginning of February. Final financial results for the fiscal year, which ended on March 31, 2010 are expected to come out in a few days.

An official statement from Sony reads, “improved performance within the game business and Vaio PCs as a result of better than anticipated reductions in both operating expenses and manufacturing cost.” The results are pretty good when taking into account the fact that Sony lost more than 1 billion dollars during fiscal 2008.

The huge loss spurred the company to make some significant cuts in personnel and streamline the structure of its divisions. When it comes to the games division, Sony put out the new PlayStation 3 Slim, a hardware version of its home console that uses less energy and has a smaller profile.

Since the new device was launched in August 2009, sales of the PS3 have jumped significantly, helped by a string of high profile videogame launches like Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, Heavy Rain or God of War 3. The overall aim is to get the games and services division to turn a profit before March 2011.

The PlayStation 3 is set to get two significant upgrades during 2011: a motion tracking controller and the ability to play 3D videogames. The PlayStation Move is set to arrive at some point during the fall and will compete directly with Microsoft's Project Natal, while the 3D abilities will be delivered via firmware updates throughout the year.