Sony's annual report looks anything but positive this time, as the company has missed its planned targets and has suffered massive financial losses.
Sony's Consumer Products and Services Division, which includes PlayStation, reported losses of €2,2 billion as of March 31, 2012. This compares to a slight profit in the previous year. Total sales declined by 18,5 percent. Sony as a whole reported a net loss of €4,42 billion.
Sony also missed its target of 15 million PlayStation 3 sales, selling only 13,9 million units, a slight decrease compared to the previous year. Sales of the PSP and PS2 also continued to decline slightly. Sony still hasn't released PS Vita sales figures, but hopes to sell 16 million units in the current fiscal year, including the PSP. The same applies to the combined sales of the PS3 and PS2.
However, PS3 software sales are performing better, increasing from 147,9 million to 156,6 million units – the segment where the company is still making money. PSP software sales, on the other hand, also declined drastically to 32,2 million units.
The declining PS3 sales figures could push Sony to further reduce the console prices, which, however, is also blamed for the poor annual results in the past fiscal year.
According to Sony's new president, Kaz Hirai, the company aims to return to profitability within five years. To achieve this, the company will undergo another restructuring and thousands of job cuts.
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