PS3 sales up amid overall losses for Sony

In August, Sony reduced the price of its PlayStation 3 console worldwide to £199, €249, $249, and ¥24,980. In a financial report released today, the company announced that the reduction had a positive effect on sales in the three months ending September 30, with 3.7 million units sold--an increase of 200,000 on the same period last year.

Sony saw other sales rises across its PlayStation business for the second quarter. PlayStation 3 software sales were up from 35.3 million to 37.4 million. PSP hardware sales were up 200,000 to 1.7 million, while software sales for the handheld fell to 8.1 million copies sold, down from 11 million copies in the same period last year. Meanwhile, the PlayStation 2 continued its steady decline, with hardware sales down 300,000 to 1.2 million and software sales halving from 5.6 million to 2.8 million.

The PS3 sales jump wasn't enough to salvage the quarter for Sony's Consumer Products & Services division, which includes the PlayStation business as well as TVs, home audio, cameras, and personal electronics. Year-over-year sales for the segment were down more than 12 percent to ¥779.7 billion ($9.99 billion, £6.24 billion) for the quarter. Company-wide, sales were down more than 9 percent to ¥1.5 trillion ($19.2 billion, £12 billion).

The consumer products division finished the quarter in the red, posting a loss of ¥34.6 billion ($443 million, £277 million) as Sony cited unfavourable foreign exchange rates and a deterioration of the market in the US and Europe. Across all divisions, Sony suffered a net loss of ¥18.3 billion ($234.6 million, £146.5 million) for the quarter.