PS3 proved profitable in last Sony fiscal year

by David Hinkle on May 13th 2010 2:03PM

The PS3 was a bright spot for Sony in its fiscal year 2009 (ending March 31, 2010). Thanks to a strong yen and a rise in PS3 hardware sales (you go Slim!), the console finally became profitable for Sony at the tail end of the fiscal year, according to Reuters (via adriasang); despite the Networked Products & Services division, which includes games, seeing a decline in overall product sales. The division operated at a loss of ¥83.1 billion ($895 million), a marginal improvement over the previous year's ¥87.4 billion ($941 million) deficit. Still, Sony forecasts ¥160 billion ($1.7 billion) in company-wide operating profits for the current fiscal year (April 2010 – March 2011).

PS3 revenue is expected to increase this fiscal year from reduced manufacturing costs and a concerted effort to increase unit sales, following a strong showing last holiday season and a new and effective ad campaign. According to Sony, the company managed to ship 13 million consoles in its 2009 fiscal year, up from 10.1 million in fiscal 2008. Mainichi reports (via adriasang) that Sony expects to increase PS3 hardware sales to 15 million units this fiscal year.

However, PSP and PS2 hardware sales have shown decline. PSP sales, which totaled 9.9 million hardware units and 44.4 million software units in fiscal 2009, fell from previous fiscal year totals of 14.4 million hardware units and 50.3 million software units. PS2 sales in fiscal 2009 saw less of a percentage decline, totaling 7.3 million units sold; compared to 7.9 million units sold the previous fiscal year. PS2 software, however, experienced a sharp decline in sales, managing only 35.7 million software units sold as compared to fiscal 2008's 83.5 million units total.

Source - Sony Consolidated Financial Results for the Fiscal Year Ended March 31, 2010 [PDF]
Source - PS3 Hardware Turns Profitable [andriasang.com]

Tags: earnings, financial, financial-report, fy-2009, fy-2010, hardware, sales, software, sony, sony-computer-entertainment

Reader Comments (65)

Well done PS3.

Now, release the PSP2 with two nubs, and a Sony Ericcson phone built in :D

boobz :D

Boobz is a DS game, you idiot. Please stay on topic.

I love Sony Ericsson phones. My current one uses the XMB and is pretty good for gaming. And Android SE phone with a great camera like many SEs have, with great music playing like many of them have, and with PSP capabilities?

That would be a wonderful product.

The only problem is that Sony probably wouldn't play well with android games that aren't PS licensed.

Hmm.

Positive Sony News...

Prediction: 120 comments.

... and immature fanboys dissing either Sony on the good news or how it means doom for Microsoft

Good job my only friend that doesn't judge me.

I'm glad they had a profitable year with the PS3. The way I see it, 2009 was the only year that Sony didn't do something outrageously stupid with their marketing/policies regarding the system.

Maybe it will tide them over until the next year they get their act together. All I know is that online access for my original Xbox (4/15/2010) lasted longer than online access for my PS3 (4/1/2010) and that's just sad.

Yays

Profitability?

About time!

Yayz!

im shocked that the ps2 sold 8million units last year, i mean, i knew it sold well, but damn man.

It outsold the X360 in the last quarter of the year too.

I don't why but I feel that Wii won't sell that many units in its 10th year.

Whoopsy daisy, my fail. I forgot to put 'know' in the sentence. The corrected one is as follows:
I don't know why but I feel that Wii won't sell that many units in its 10th year.

@KSPRAYDAD:

Except that it didn't.

(Unless you thought Brian meant PlayStation 3 when he said PS2)

@Ordeith...

Go back and look at the 9 mos reports from both companies and the full year report. It indicates that in the last quarter of the year the PS2 outsold the Xbox 360 worldwide.

"[PS3] outsold the X360 in the last quarter of the year too."

Yes, and? Do you own stock in Sony or something?

Who gives a shit?

@Jack: u mad

I thought he said that the PS2 outsold the 360 in the last quarter :S

@Jack...

Yes...I do own Sony stock. And yes the PS2 outsold the Xbox 360 worldwide in the last quarter according to the official financials from MS and Sony. Pointing this out is interesting to me...has nothing to do with fanboyism or being a stock holder.

Thanks for playing.

PS2 NEVER outsold the 360 in NPD for 2009 or 2010.
PS2 NEVER outsold the 360 WW in ANY week in 2009 or 2010.

So how the hell do you get that it could possibly outsell the 360 for an entire quarter?

I don't think this even happened if you are Japan only. *checks* Nope, not even in Japan.

What ARE you smoking?

Oh..and another thing...do you have WW numbers that include Africa and Latin America. No .... you don't. That is why we look at the FINANCIALS like I've said, not NPD for F sakes.

Wow, that is a FAIL on Ordeith if i ever saw one. KSPRAYDAD is right. A simple propagandized mind does not even know what the info they are citing is. NPD is just those nations/regions that are listed.

As they say, KSPRAYDAD PWNED Ordeith!!!

This line. to help the reading fail.

-->PS2 NEVER outsold the 360 WW in ANY week in 2009 or 2010.

"Sony expects to increase that figure to 15 million units in its fiscal 2010."

GT5 will do that for you

If they ever release the damn thing...

Exactly. 'If' is a keyword here. Compare that with my comment from the past:
Polyphony Digital may reach number one [on a list of 100 video game developers ranked by the amount of money they made] if they ever release Gran Turismo 5. I stress the word 'if'.
http://www.joystiq.com/2010/05/11/nintendo-once-again-tops-the-develop-100/

PS3 = Profit System 3

Er, dunno about that yet. Not to bash, but just from the money standpoint I don't know that the system itself has made a profit yet. With the software and accessories included, sure.

It did. Just wasn't reported on Joystiq. Read it some where in PSLS

@216
Now, you're right but before last year the PS3 stood for 'Poor Sales 3'.

" The PS2 fared better in hardware sales"

uh, no it didnt

7 < 9

and seven ate nine. hehe, get it?

congrats Sony! now just some helpful advice, but next time, try to get the ps4 profitable within a year or two of release, not 4 years down the line...

i love my ps3, but you gotta admit sony made some poor decisions this console cycle.

Depends on the focus. If they wanted quick money they would make moves like MS did with Xbox shipping known bad HW and fairly conservative specs. Can't blame MS too much since they have probably lost more money on Xbox overall than Sony has for all PS systems combined and were looking to profit chase. Overall somewhere in the middle would probably be acceptable. Build it as if it was a 10 Year system market it and offer services as if it was a 5 year system. The long tail of the last few years would make it worthwhile without making the Successor feel like a gamble when it hits the market.

I don't know if profitability has anything to do with the end user and their experience with a console.

See: Wii

It hasn't been 4 years yet.

The PS3 deserves its good fortunes. The four most important things came together this year for them: Good advertising campaign, much needed price cut, excellent games, lower production costs. It had the best year last year, and so far this year I would say it is the best also, though the 360 is real close right now, and I finally got Mass Effect 2 and it is the best "RPG" I've played in years (though I don't have demon souls yet)
on a side note, does anyone know what game is on the monitors?

Haven't played Demon's Souls yet? Then you sir, haven't played a truly great RPG this gen.

@Blkant: as good as Demon's Souls is you can't deny that Fallout 3, Dragon Age, and Mass Effect aren't also truly great RPG's.

I didn't care for Demon's Souls and I'm Goozexing it. Swords and Magic games just don't do it for me.

@blkant: yeah, i was just about to buy a used copy at gamestop's website for just like $26 after a coupon, but right when i was going to order it, it sold out. I'm backlogged on games anyways, so not much hurry. but as soon as a I find it around that price again, I'm all over it.
@grey: actually, I played a friend's copy of dragon age for a little bit, and was pretty disappointed. I might try renting it if I start up gamefly again and give it a fair shot. I also have FF13 from the $30 kmart sale, but haven't started that one yet, but have heard mixed reviews anyways on that one. so far mass effect 2 is the only rpg this gen to blow me away, but i'm gonna be playing a bunch soon.

Mass Effect 2 is more of a third person shooter than an RPG. Especially when you compare it to its prequel.

yeah, that's why i put rpg in quotes. I would still consider it an RPG, but yeah, it absolutely has a lot of shooter elements, and could be considered as such. either way, it is great so far. I actually liked Eternal Sonata also, but so far, RPGs this gen have been kinda weak.
And still no one knows the game on the display pic?

Oh, didn't you hear? Bioware is an expert on RPGs.

http://www.strategyinformer.com/news/8006/bioware-you-can-put-a-j-in-front-of-it-but-final-fantasy-13-isnt-an-rpg

Reading the linked financial results leads me to different conclusions.

Their profit for this year, and the $1.7 billion profit projected for next year is for the whole company, not the PS3.

PS3 numbers are not broken out, but the division that contains it lost $893 million for this year. The division outlook for next year is "operating loss is expected to decrease significantly", which still does not imply a profit.

What is amazing is that Sony's forecast for the next YEAR is less than Microsoft actually makes in a MONTH.

Great job Sony.

Well done Sony game division!

The PS3 still needs to reduce the cost per unit. Sony is still losing money on each individual console but apparently makes up for it in accessories and software sales which is great, but could definitely make even more even if it made $1 profit on each console instead of a loss.

I can't believe how many PS2s they still sell. lol Amazing system, don't get me wrong, but man it's how old? lol

The company as a whole made a profit which is great because the year before was really bad. The division where the PS3 is did not make a profit and almost lost a billion.

Even though the hardware may be making a profit now, it appears that a lot of stuff isn't for the game division. Maybe the aggressive advertising has cut into those profits. The quarterly report should be interesting.

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PS3 proved profitable in last Sony fiscal year

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