Sony Corporation has revealed that sales of its PlayStation division were down 18 percent for the 12-month period ending March 31, clocking in at approximately 1.284 billion yen.
The hardware manufacturer pointed the blame squarely at ever-troublesome foreign exchange rages, along with diminishing sales of PlayStation 2 hardware and software, which saw sales of the eight-year old machine down by a whopping 42 percent.
Despite this, losses for the year were cut significantly thanks to reduced costs of PS3 hardware production, with the company posting a loss of 58.5 billion yen, compared to the previous year’s 124.5 billion yen.
It’s not all doom and gloom at camp Sony, however – PS3 sales were up 10 percent, rising from 9.12 million in 2007 to 10.6 million for the full year ending March 31. PSP also recorded a small but noticeable rise in sales, climbing 2 percent to 14.11 million.
Meanwhile, PS3 software climbed 79 percent to 103.7 million during the same period, though both PSP and PS2 failed to capitalize on their big brother’s success, dropping 9 percent and 46 percent, respectively.
Sony’s overall loss for the financial year totalled in at approximately 98.9 billion yen (USD 1.04 billion)