14 DAY TRIAL // Technology conglomerate Sony has announced that its Network Products and Services division, which includes its gaming business, built around the PlayStation brand, has posted an increase in its profit during the final quarter of 2010 of 135 percent, reaching 45.7 billion Yen, which is equivalent to about 564 million dollars at current exchange rates.
Sony says that actual revenue went down a bit during the quarter that ended on December 31 of last year, from 605.5 billion Yen to just 566.6 billion, about 7.4 billion dollars, with the reason cited “was mainly due to a decrease in sales in the game business resulting primarily from unfavorable foreign exchange rates.”
As for why profits increased in such spectacular fashion Sony stated there were “significant cost reductions of PlayStation 3 hardware and higher unit sales of PS3 software.”
During the 2009 fiscal year Sony managed to move 13 million PS3 home consoles to gamers and the projection for the current fiscal year, which ends on March 31, is set at 15 million.
Other PlayStation branded products are not doing as good, with the PlayStation Portable handheld going from 9.9 million units sold to just 8 million while the PS2, which is now more than ten years old, is declining from 7.3 to 6 million.
About two years ago the Network Products and Services division was posting a loss and a lot of people were wondering whether Sony made a losing bet when launching the PlayStation 3.
Sony is also pointing to the PlayStation Network as a source for profit, expecting it to create increased revenue during 2011.
The big moment during this year will be the release of the PlayStation Portable 2, or as Sony calls it the NGP, which is the company's answer to the Nintendo 3DS handheld that will arrive in late February 26.
The NGP will have increased processing power, multi touch screen, and dual analog sticks for better control.