Sony Financials: PlayStation Division Makes a Small Loss After PS Vita Price Drop, PS4 R&D

October 31, 2013

Sony has released their financials for the second quarter of this fiscal year, revealing an operating loss of $8 million USD in the PlayStation division, which they contribute to the PlayStation Vita price drop:

Operating loss of 0.8 billion yen (8 million U.S. dollars) was recorded, compared to operating income of 2.3 billion yen in the same quarter of the previous fiscal year. This year-on-year decline was primarily due to the impact of a strategic price reduction for the PlayStation Vita and the unfavorable impact of foreign exchange rates, partially offset by the above-mentioned increase in software unit sales

Meanwhile, overall sales were up 5.1% year-on-year (a 14% decrease on a constant currency basis) to 155.7 billion yen ($1.588 million USD), something they believed was helped out by the favorable impact of foreign exchange rates. The report continued:

The decrease in sales on a constant currency basis was primarily due to a decrease in unit sales of PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3 and PSP hardware, partially offset by increased PS3 software unit sales compared to the same quarter of the previous fiscal year.

Looking at the PS4, they briefly talked about R&D costs:

In the Game segment, operating loss significantly increased year-on-year primarily due to an increase in research and development expenses related to the upcoming introduction of the PlayStation 4 and the impact of a strategic price reduction for the PS Vita.

For sales numbers in Q2, see below:

PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 2 Systems – 2 million (down from 3.5 million last year)
PlayStation Vita and PlayStation Portable Systems – 800,000 (down from 1.6 million last year)
Software – 93 million (up from 60 million last year)

And here’s their predictions for the fiscal year: