Sony's Game Division Back to Making a Profit!

[hippie_hunter]

Three months after posting an $841 million operating loss for its second fiscal quarter, Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. is back in the black. Today as part of its overall earnings report, Sony reported that its game division posted a profit during its third fiscal quarter, which ended on December 31, 2007. SCEI posted a ¥12.9 billion (around $121 million at today's exchange rate) profit on ¥581 billion ($5.45 billion) in revenue for the three-month period, up from a ¥54.2 billion ($508.9 million) loss on ¥442.8 billion ($4.16 billion) the year before.

SCEI's resurgence was in large part due to the PlayStation 3. Though the console's development and production costs had been draining Sony's coffers since 2006, the company now reports "a significant decrease in the operating losses of the PS3 business as a result of successful PS3 hardware cost reductions."

As a result, Sony made money on many of the 4.9 million PlayStation 3s it sold worldwide during the quarter, an increase of 3.24 million units from the same period the year prior, when the console launched in November. PS3 software was also up, rising 20.7 million units to 26.0 million units.
Unfortunately, the robust figures didn't keep the company from lowering its oft-vaunted 11 million-unit annual PS3 goal to 9.5 million.

However, even that new figure wasn't enough for some analysts. "Sony had forecast 11 million units, while we forecasted 8.5 million units," said Pacific Crest Securities' Evan Wilson in a note this morning. "While Sony is confident in its new forecast...we remain skeptical of its target."
Today's report also touted the PlayStation Portable, which saw sales rise 1.05 million units year over year to hit 5.76 million for the quarter. As a result, Sony raised its sales estimate by 30 percent to 13 million for the year. The grass on the software side was not greener, however: The 18.3 million PSP games sold during the quarter were 3 million fewer than were sold than a year ago.

Unsurprisingly, Sony spun its Q3 numbers as the first of many profitable earnings reports. Wilson, though, still thinks the PS3 is not living up to its potential. "Sony appears to be trading the long-term success of the PS3 for a near-term profit," he said. "It is possible that it could meet its reduced target of 9.5 million PS3 unit shipments as retailers ramp inventory in fiscal Q4 (March) for the anticipated releases of Grand Theft Auto IV (April 29) and Metal Gear Solid 4 (June). However, we continue to believe that the primary barrier for PS3 is price, and until the console reaches a mass-market price point, its sales will struggle." Currently, the 40GB PS3 is $399 in the US, with the reportedly discontinued 80GB model selling for $499.

http://www.gamespot.com/news/6185395.html?action=convert&om_clk=latestnews&tag=latestnews;title;0

 

[Havok83]

yeah I saw that earlier. Good for them making a slight comeback. I really liked the changes I saw in the latter half of the year and their marketting strategy

 

[GFreeman]

Good for them. I still think they'll come in 3rd by 2010, but hopefully ps3 won't turn out to be their Saturn now.

 

[Devil May Cry]

What's hilarious is that the PS3 sold more units than the 360 in 2007 without any super AAA titles. That's a damn shame.

http://www.n4g.com/industrynews/News-106357.aspx
http://www.gamespot.com/news/6185395...stnews;title;3

 

[GFreeman]

It had plenty of hyped all to hell games. Only Uncharted actually turned out to be good, but it had about 5 "advertised as AAA for more than a year now" type games.

 

[Devil May Cry]

The link that I provided details the numbers Sony posted. For right now, I'll remain skeptical of them actually selling more than MS. But...I think it IS safe to say that they did better than expected. Fair?



And yeah, Ratchet and Uncharted were the only exclusive AAAs. Uncharted is at 1 million now, so it looks like it has some legs...but games like that don't sell much regularly.

 

[Joker]

"Sold" has a different meaning to Sony than it does to you or me or any other company for that matter. To them "sold" means "we sent it to a store" not "a consumer has purchased our product." And yeah, they definietly "sold" more by there definition than Xbox did. I have about 30 PS3s sitting in the TRU back room right now, as opposed to the 4 Xboxs I have, cause people actually buy them, and they send us more when we run out.

 

[Zenien]

Microsoft does the same thing for their sold financial satements, it would make no sense for either of the to list 'sold through to customer' in a financial report, when all they get the money from is sold toretailers. Though keep in mind the PS3 has been outsellin the 360 in Europe by around 2 to 1, and majorly outselling it in Japan. America is the only region tht's lagging, and while they undoubtedly stuffed the channel, no moe than Microsoft last year tor each their 10 million 'sold' figure.

 

[Electro UK]

I love it that when there's the slightest bit of news that works for Sony, someone has to rush in and twist it in some way to satisfy themselves. :

 

[Havok83]

I love it that when there's the slightest bit of news that works for Sony, someone has to rush in and twist it in some way to satisfy themselves. :

thats bc people are haters. They cant stand to see Sony do anything good. You see its the same players all the time, who lurk around here just waiting to do just that

 

[Zenien]

I would have to agree that the trolls are pretty lame. SOny is going to do great in 2008, like it or not, they've done an incredible job of managing cost reduction for the PS3, an unbelievable job in fact, and they've now won the HD format war, the company as a whole is expected to make something like 3 billion dollars even with the year overall lose of the PS3 devision. Not to mention that the PS3 has been otselling the 360 worldwide.
Deal. with. it. You don't see any of us going into the Microsoft secton and *****ing it up with being spiteful trolls.

 

[hippie_hunter]

"Sold" has a different meaning to Sony than it does to you or me or any other company for that matter. To them "sold" means "we sent it to a store" not "a consumer has purchased our product." And yeah, they definietly "sold" more by there definition than Xbox did. I have about 30 PS3s sitting in the TRU back room right now, as opposed to the 4 Xboxs I have, cause people actually buy them, and they send us more when we run out.

Actually Sony switched from the "sold but we actually mean shipped" method to actually sold model of telling how sales numbers are now.

Microsoft is the only one that does it now.

 

[XtromaniaK]

Actually Sony switched from the "sold but we actually mean shipped" method to actually sold model of telling how sales numbers are now.

Microsoft is the only one that does it now.

Somehow I doubt that.

 

[Isildur´s Heir]

Answer me this Sony fanboys, why do you like so much a company that sucks so hard?
Before calling me troll, Xbot or whatever, this is not the case.
I can´t care less about the 360 right now, not am i here to start a flame war.
My question is legit, why do you like Sony so much, when the company has no respect for you, the consumer?

And before anyone makes me the same question, why i love Microsoft...i don´t, just don´t have anything against them, Microsoft never shown disrespect like Sony does.
And before anyone say "Red Ring of Death", hardware failures is not being disrespectful.

 

[Zenien]

Have fun being insane... :gray:

 

[GFreeman]

I would have to agree that the trolls are pretty lame. SOny is going to do great in 2008, like it or not, they've done an incredible job of managing cost reduction for the PS3, an unbelievable job in fact, and they've now won the HD format war, the company as a whole is expected to make something like 3 billion dollars even with the year overall lose of the PS3 devision. Not to mention that the PS3 has been otselling the 360 worldwide.
Deal. with. it. You don't see any of us going into the Microsoft secton and *****ing it up with being spiteful trolls.

Uh, well...

 

[Zenien]

You've got nothing on the scale of what you guys do daily.

I'd love to see Isildur´s Heir actually elaborate on what he just said, because it's pretty absurd.

 

[Isildur´s Heir]

I'd love to see Isildur´s Heir actually elaborate on what he just said, because it's pretty absurd.

No it´s not.
Here, copy and paste from my post of the misc forum

Notice, this is not 360 vs PS3 rant, but a comparision...

Sony sucks!
There is no other way to put it, and no, it´s not because Microsoft *rules*, it´s just common sense.
Sony has an incredible lack of disrespect for the consumer, more even than Microsoft.
I had a PS1 and PS2, and the problem was already there, i just didn´t thought twice because it was the only console i had, now it´s not, and the Sony´s disrespect is ridiculous.
The difference on the PSN of content and delays is ridiculous, you don´t have half those problems in the 360.
Games like PAIN get a release in the US on the 29 Nov and they haven´t still arrive in Europe, Cash Guns Chaos arrived on the US store in 17 Nov 2006 and haven´t still arrive to Europe, Blast Factor released in 17 Nov 2006, arrived to Europe 4 month later, on 23 March.
The same can be said the other way around (but not very common), Championship Sprint was released in Europe on the 29 June 2007 and it´s waiting for the US release.
It´s fricking ridiculous, more even when Europe is the Playstation greatest asset.
XBLA games arrive the same day, same time, EVERYWHERE.
Now, let´s the look at retail games, and the same crap happens, games take too damn long to arrive to Europe (Ok, not all games, but plenty), when on the 360, it does´t happen that often, usually games arrive with one week diference.
Delays will always happen, it´s stupid, but that´s the way it goes, but Sony´s exaggerates.
Even the fricking console was delayed.....
And the funny thing is, Europe loves it to death...only God knows why.
I still remember God of War 2, that was released in Europe 3 or 4 month after the US.
There are still PS2 games (don´t remember which) that Kotaku announced coming to Europe almost a year after the US.
Un-fu**ing-believable

Now, i can wait for a game, i still buy a lot of games released 2 or 3 year ago (on the PC i still buy and play games released in 2000 and love it), but enough is enough.
How can Europe be a***aped by Sony and love it is beyond me

I´ll get a PS3 this year, this might sound strange, but i will, because more important the any platform are the games, and that´s why i´ll buy it eventually, but i would laugh my ass off if Sony closes doors tomorrow (the gaming of course).
I hate Sony.
And just to make things clear, this is not about the 360, i can´t care less about MS at this moment, this is about the crappyness that is Sony.

Saying that, yeah, i see Sony winning this war, at least, winnig to Microsoft.
They don´t deserve it one bit (ony if they change policy), but they will, because the Playstation name is hard to beat.
But the difference will not be all that, you can be sure, so, the question is, will they have legs to beat MS next gen, from the top of my head, if they don´t change policy...NO.
I read somewhere during 2006 that Microsoft had a 3 phase plan for the Xbox brand (don´t remember where, just know it was online and i can´t find it).
1st phase (Xbox) was the let people know what they could do and gather a fanbase (they did it); 2nd phase (360) was to consolidate and grow (they are doing that extremely well, by having games that didn´t had the first time around, like Jap RPGs and Japonese developers support); 3rd phase (720?) is the one to win the market.
Looking back, and looking at how they delivered what they said, yeah, i see that happening.

 

[Electro UK]

Answer me this Sony fanboys, why do you like so much a company that sucks so hard?
Before calling me troll, Xbot or whatever, this is not the case.
I can´t care less about the 360 right now, not am i here to start a flame war.
My question is legit, why do you like Sony so much, when the company has no respect for you, the consumer?

And before anyone makes me the same question, why i love Microsoft...i don´t, just don´t have anything against them, Microsoft never shown disrespect like Sony does.
And before anyone say "Red Ring of Death", hardware failures is not being disrespectful.

I don't like Sony so much, I just like me Playstation 3 damnit!

 

[hippie_hunter]

Answer me this Sony fanboys, why do you like so much a company that sucks so hard?
Before calling me troll, Xbot or whatever, this is not the case.
I can´t care less about the 360 right now, not am i here to start a flame war.
My question is legit, why do you like Sony so much, when the company has no respect for you, the consumer?

And before anyone makes me the same question, why i love Microsoft...i don´t, just don´t have anything against them, Microsoft never shown disrespect like Sony does.
And before anyone say "Red Ring of Death", hardware failures is not being disrespectful.

Frankly the only company I think that has respect for the consumer is Nintendo. They give me free stuff for buying their products which are very reliable. And when the Wii Remote had strap problems, Nintendo fixed it right away and offered replacements.

Sony is just too arrogant to their consumers, though this is now changing since they pretty much ate a huge slice of humble pie due to the fact that nobody bought their system when it was at launch price (which was a robbery) and had no games.

Microsoft sends shoddy hardware so they could make it out before the others. They didn't give a damn about HD DVD (an add on does not equate to them giving a damn), which I can agree with imdaly was the more consumer friendly format, they just wanted to help set up digital downloads for their own purposes. They took a while to solve the RROD issues too, instead they denied it until far too many were reported.

And frankly, Sony and Microsoft are just too consumed with the "My Console's Penis Is Bigger Than Your Console's Penis" contest.

 

[Zenien]

No it´s not.
Here, copy and paste from my post of the misc forum

Your complaining about freaking localization lead times and the separate groups in charge of each PS store deciding to release their content at different times?!

I thought you'd have something a little more substantial.... sort of disappointing, really.

Hardware failures aren't disrespect? Realy? Reaaallyyy?

Let's talk about how knowingly pushing an unreliable console out to market, with what was a 30+ percent failure rate, and only announcing a big fix it because they was a class action lawsuit coming down on them. How about locking in the system and charging absurd amounts of money for proprietary add ons, and structuring the console setup in a way to encourage the exploitation of the consumer base, isn't disrespectful.

Let's talk about how Sony canned Ken K over the costs of the PS3, or how the PS3 has build quality second only to the Wii, I mean it doesn't show respect at all that they tried to make the PS3 as reliable as possible. Or how they haven't locked in the add ons to proprietary overpriced pieces of junk just to make more money off the consumer. Or how they're putting up all that content on PSN free of charge, and Microsoft charges you a monthly fee for P2P Matchmaking... and doesn't even give you any dedicated servers.

Really, let's talk...

Really the best company is probably Nintendo, but even they are charging more money at retail than it takes for them to make a Wii, and typically respond to a hot product by finding a way that they can strip something out of it to make little big more money.

In fact no one has spent more R&D than Sony on figuring out ways to improve their fabrication processes and reduce component costs.

 

[XtromaniaK]

I hate all of you.

 

[Zenien]

One of us one of us one of us...

 

[XtromaniaK]

Can't you see?! This family is being torn apart!

 

[Isildur´s Heir]

Frankly the only company I think that has respect for the consumer is Nintendo. They give me free stuff for buying their products which are very reliable. And when the Wii Remote had strap problems, Nintendo fixed it right away and offered replacements.

I have little to no knownledge o Nintendo consumer policy to even talk about that.

Sony is just too arrogant to their consumers, though this is now changing since they pretty much ate a huge slice of humble pie due to the fact that nobody bought their system when it was at launch price (which was a robbery) and had no games.

Arrogant...yes they are....extremely.

Microsoft sends shoddy hardware so they could make it out before the others. They didn't give a damn about HD DVD (an add on does not equate to them giving a damn), which I can agree with imdaly was the more consumer friendly format, they just wanted to help set up digital downloads for their own purposes. They took a while to solve the RROD issues too, instead they denied it until far too many were reported.

Sending shoddy hardware is not being disrespectuful, is just a bad move to try and have a lead in the upcoming "war".
Sure, it was fricking bad, but i´m sure it wasn´t meant to be, i´m sure MS didn´t realized the problems the hardware had, because it makes to sense for someone to sent out, willingly, something that will bite them in the ass later
The RROD issue being denied at first was a way to try to have their ass, but, after that, they even extanded the warranty.