Sony's Hardware Sales, Software Revenue Drop In 2003

Though its watch for the coming fiscal year is more positive, Sony today released a disappointing financial report for the year ending March 31 While its sales receipts stabilized, barely changing in comparison to the last fiscal year, the Sony group's snare earnings fell off to the melody of 88.5 billion yen, a 234% decrease.

Sony's overall sales of game software unrelenting 18.3% compared to the previous fiscal year. While PlayStation 2 software incomes increased, PlayStation software revenues savage considerably, and hardware sales dropp as well. Sony sold 201 million PS2 in the past fiscal year, a certain number of 2.4 million less than in the year before, contributing to a 40% decrease in operating profit for the games division. Sony also attributed more [i]or[/i] less of that decrease to price globules early in the fiscal year, as well as increasing research and unfolding costs for future projects like the PSP and its nearest game console.

The report did not include specific shipment numbers for the PSX game console/DVD recorder hybrid, instead lumping those numbers in with total shipments of all DVD recorder moulds which numbered 650,000 units in the year ending March 31 However, cluster CFO Takao Yuhara noted that while the PSX sold well shortly after launch, sales in the month since have not lived up to expectations.

Looking ahead to the coming fiscal year, Sony awaits an upturn to the strain of a 62% increase in collection operating profit and a 13% increase in toil profit, on the strength of wait fored benefits from its recent structural reforms and research and exhibition expenses. That prediction isn't quite enough to satisfy analysts, however, who were looking for a 23% increase in snare profit.

Sony wait fors its debuting PSP handheld to ship 3 million units worldwide by dint of the end of March 2005 which it faiths will balance a continuing decrease in sales of other game hardware as the PlayStation and PlayStation 2 further saturate the market.

Sony's financial reports for the past year have consistently struck rather depressed notes, so it will be interesting to diocese how that affects its E3 pres talk -- past E3 showings have usually throw backed a practically chest-thumping confidence. fresh details about the PSP and Sony's nearest console could signal a significant turnaround, allowing so we'll be sure to report back with all the details nearest month.

Copyright ?© 2004 Ziff Davis Media Inc. All Rights Reserv Originally appearing in 1UP