Sony Corp. releases its financial results for the third quarter of fiscal 2007 ending last month, posting a 9.6 percent increase in sales ¥2.86 trillion ($26.93 billion USD), and a 25 percent increase in profit to ¥200.2 billion ($1.89 billion USD).  For the first time since the PlayStation 3 launch, its gaming division has also turned a profit.  Sales at Sony Computer Entertainment were up 31.2 percent to ¥581.2 billion ($5.47 billion USD), generating an operating income of ¥12.9 billion ($121.5 million USD) during Q3.  Contrast this with the gaming division's operating loss of ¥54.2 billion ($510.4 million USD) during Q3 2006.

SCE's PS3 certainly sold much better thus far into fiscal 2007 compared to the same period back in 2006, but reduced PS3 production costs played a decisive role in putting the gaming division back into the black.  Global sales for the PS3 during Q3 2007 reached 4.9 million units, up 3.24 million units from Q3 2006.  The PlayStation Portable also proved to be a solid benchmark for SCE's profitability despite a drop in sales of 3 million units, for a grand total of 5.76 million units sold.  The PlayStation 2 sold almost as well as the PSP at 5.40 million units.  However, it was the only console which saw a reduction in sales compared to Q3 2006's figures, by 1.35 million units no less.

Q3 console software sales more or less mirrored the story illustrated above with hardware; while PS3 software rose significantly, sales for PS2 and PSP games shrank.  26 million PS3 games were sold during Q3 2007, an increase of 20.7 million units from Q3 2006; you can see how gloomy the situation used to look for PS3 gaming back then versus now!  On the other hand, sales for PS2 games dropped to 60.9 million units, while PSP software sales also shrank to reach 18.3 million units.

Despite SCE's road to profitability, Sony Corp. is planning on cutting most full-year sales targets in move to prepare for the worst given unfavorable currency exchange rates and an ailing U.S. economy threatening to reduce consumer buying power.  Sony Corp. will also be reducing operating profit forecasts for the rest of fiscal 2007, making for reduced profit margins.  Concerning its gaming division, SCE will cut sales forecast for the PS3 from 11 million units to 9.5 million, a 14 percent reduction.  Apparently SCE is more confident with the PSP, as the full-year target for the handheld is conversely raised by around 30 percent to 13 million units.