Sony Profit Down 95%, PS3 Falls Back in Next Gen Race

Posted by Tony Cardone in Games on Jan 29th, 2009 | View Comments

Consumer electronics giant Sony is perhaps the ‘perfect company’ to show the impacts of the global recession. Today they announced that yearly profits fell $2.09 billion, from $2.2 billion to $110 million. The hardest hit sector was its biggest- consumer electronics, which saw 30 percent of its sales evaporate in the toughening economic climate. The company said sales in its gaming sector, which includes the PlayStation 3 and Sony Consumer Entertainment America (SCEA) divisions, was down 32% in 2008. Fierce competition from Microsoft and Nintendo weakened the PS3’s performance in the holiday. According to Gamespot, the current tally puts the latest PlayStation at 21.3 million, nearly seven million less than the Xbox (28 million) and less than half the number of Nintendo’s Wii (45 million). This is likely due to the tightening of Japanese wallets, which is one of Sony’s largest regions against the Xbox. Shares of SNE on the NYSE were down 3% today to 20.27.