Sony reports continued loss, expects games division to remain unprofitable

It's no secret: Sony has lost a lot of money. Unfortunately, the troubled times are far from over for the Japanese conglomerate. Sony is now predicting a 110 billion yen ($1.15 billion) loss for the financial year to March 2010, due to losses at many of its divisions, including PlayStation. Sony has been affected by the recession, with dampened sales of its cameras, phones, and televisions.

The company is aiming to boost its games division, with a 30 percent increase in sales of the PS3, to 13 million units for the fiscal year. However, although Sony plans on selling more PS3 systems, Reuters notes the company expects "its games division to stay unprofitable."

Expecting the games division to stay unprofitable may seem strange in light of lowered production costs and increasing PS3 and PSN software sales. Perhaps, this could be a sign of the oft-rumored price cut. A price drop would help accelerate PS3 sales, while reducing the profitability of the PlayStation brand. However, with a projection as grim as a billion dollar loss, we wouldn't be surprised if Sony holds back on loosening its wallet a bit more.

Sony reports continued loss, expects games division to remain unprofitable originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 14 May 2009 10:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.