Hirai expecting 11 million console sales by fiscal year's end

Worldwide sales for the PlayStation 3, Kaz Hirai said in a recent interview, are expected to surpass 11 million by the end of the fiscal year. Yep, you just read a longer version of the headline, but it needed to be said again. Hirai is confident this mark will be passed, probably due to the surge of sales following the price drop and other incentives (five free Blu-ray movies is a nice touch).

In addition to this lofty goal, Hirai says the PS3 is going to start again as a console to play games on -- their strategy is moving off of pricing and into software. This is a good move, since the console on its own has started outselling the Wii in Japan (November numbers were surprising, though many will attribute it to the Wii shortage that never ends) and tripled sales in the US. Hirai finishes by saying Sony's game division is expected to be back in the black in 2008. We look forward to seeing if he's right!

[Thanks, SonyFanboy!]