14 DAY TRIAL // Andrew House, who is the leader of Sony Computer Entertainment, has reiterated that the company believes that it will sell more than 15 million PlayStation 3 home gaming consoles before the end of the 2012 fiscal year, which happens on March 31.
The executive has said that at the moment overall sales of the platform are a little ahead of the company’s own expectations and the Christmas shopping season might see another bump in sales for the PS3.
House said that he was not ready to talk about a sales estimate for the PlayStation Vita, which launched on December 17 on the Japanese market, but added that the profitability of the new device is heavily linked with exchange rates, which have long been a factor for Sony.
The PlayStation Vita launches on Western markets on February 22 and Sony hopes that a good performance in Japan will also drive gamers in North America and in Europe to get the new dedicated gaming handheld.
Andrew House occupied the position of Chief Executive Officer of Sony Computer Entertainment Europe until earlier during 2011 when he took over the position of Kaz Hirai, who was promoted to chairman.
The PlayStation 3 has been steadily improving sales in the monthly NPD Group compiled hardware numbers for the United States, but it’s solid growth has been shadowed by the incredible performance of the rival Xbox 360 from Microsoft, which has managed to top the chart in the last few months and has been posting record sales.
Rumors swirl around saying that both Microsoft and Sony are getting ready to announce new consoles during 2012, presumably at the E3 trade show, but both major players in the hardware market stated that they have no such plans.
Nintendo has already announced the Wii U home console, set to arrive during summer 2012.