14 DAY TRIAL // Sony has set a target of selling 13 million PlayStation 3 gaming consoles during the course of this fiscal year and Kaz Hirai, who is an executive vice president of the Japanese company, is telling the media that he is very confident that his company will surpass that number of devices sold.
During the last fiscal year, which ended on March 31, Sony has managed to only get 10.1 million devices out the door and to gamer, so the 13 million number is pretty impressive. Sony has great hopes because of the release of the new Slim version of its consoles, which is smaller, uses less electrical power while offering the same performance, and is selling for a reduced price. The key to reaching the target is the holiday season, mainly the months of November and December, when console manufacturers sell the biggest number of devices and get most of their revenue.
The 13 million target set by Sony is part of a plan to get the gaming division to become profitable by March 2011. Part of the strategy is the release of the new Sony wand motion tracking solution, which is set to arrive in the spring of next year, and a move to full 3D gaming, which can be delivered via a firmware update to the PlayStation 3, that might arrive in late 2010. Sony is also saying it will diversify the offerings on the PlayStation Network while aiming to release more exclusive titles.
Sony is also talking about creating something called the Sony Online Service (the name is not final), which will be using the PSN as the base structure, set to sell a variety of virtual goods, like videogames, video clips, electronic books, and music, that can be used on a variety of Sony devices, from the Reader to the PlayStation 3 and a variety of television sets.