PS3 sales almost 24 million, PSP near 56 million

Last week, Sony reported a loss of $390 million during the April-June period. It also revealed a slowdown in quarterly sales of the PlayStation 3, which fell from 1.6 million to 1.1 million year-over-year, and of the PSP, which went from 3.7 million to just 1.3 million. Sales of the PlayStation 2, recently repriced to just $99, rose from 1.5 million to 1.6 million.

Shortly thereafter, Sony released its life-to-date sales for the PS3 and PSP. As of June 30, 2009, the high-powered and relatively high-priced console had sold 23.8 million units worldwide since its November 2006 launch. By comparison, the hardware-issue-plagued Xbox 360, currently the cheapest game console with a hard drive-less $199 base model, had sold 30 million units as of May 28. (When it reported its games division was profitable two weeks ago, Microsoft did not release worldwide 360 sales totals through June 30.) In its own downbeat earnings report last week, Nintendo reported sales of the $249 Wii, which also launched in November 2006, had surpassed 52.6 million units.

The PSP, which launched in 2004 (Japan) and 2005 (all other territories), had sold 55.9 million units as of the end of Sony's last fiscal quarter. With Microsoft not in the portable market--for now--the handheld's main competition is Nintendo's DS and its two variations, the DS Lite and camera-equipped DSi. Combined, all three models have sold 107.8 million units as of June 30, according to Nintendo.

Looking to the fiscal year ahead, Sony is forecasting sales of 13 million PS3s, which would bring the console's total to 36.8 million as of March 31, 2010. The company is predicting the PSP will rack up 15 million sales during that period, bringing its global installed base to 70.9 million. Sony is hoping the October 1 launch of the $249 PSP Go will reverse the portable's apparently flagging momentum.

SONY COMPUTER ENTERTAINMENT SALES (through June 2009)
PS3 hardware LTD - 23.8 million
PSP hardware LTD - 55.9 million

PS3 hardware FY09 forecast - 13 million
PSP software FY09 forecast - 15 million

PS3 hardware LTD sales through March 31, 2010 (predicted) - 36.8 million
PSP hardware LTD sales through March 31, 2010 (predicted) - 70.9 million