The doubters have been silenced. Sony has done in one year what took Microsoft 6 years to accomplish: post a profitable quarter for their gaming division. This, despite the massive costs incurred with providing state of the art Playstation 3 technology at an affordable price that includes the Cell microprocessor, Blu-Ray, a standard hard-drive, and free online play with dedicated servers.

Sony is no stranger to reporting profits; before the Playstation 3 was released Sony had dominated the videogame business for years. However, with the costly inclusion of Cell and Blu-Ray, Sony lost money on their videogame division last year on behalf of their love for gamers by providing a machine that is unrivaled at a price that could be afforded by mainstream consumers. Below are the figures reported for Q3:

Operating Income (millions of U.S. dollars)

Sony Corporation $1,661

Game $113


These results, fresh off the heels of the reports of Sony working on a 45 nm version of Cell and shrinking the Blu-Ray diode component to 3 mm, Sony clearly has the best hardware engineers in the videogame business — and that’s what they know how to do best; run a videogame business. Microsoft was bleeding for years due to the costs of the Xbox 360, the red ring of death fiasco, and lackluster hardware/software sales. But, that’s what we’ve come to expect from Microsoft: delivering inferior hardware at inflated prices due to terrible management.

Not only has Sony’s videogame division returned to profitability, but the PS3 outsold the Xbox 360 in 2007. According to their respective financial reports for Q3 earnings, Sony sold 4.9 million Playstation 3’s compared to Microsoft’s 4.3 million Xbox 360’s. In Microsoft’s “best year”, their first year, they reported 10.4 million 360’s sold. In Playstation 3’s first year, and with the platform not even released in Europe for a full year, Sony moved 10.49 million units. This, despite the PS3 being priced at $599 in the US and even higher in Europe, with many of its titles delayed, thus significantly lowering the software quality of its fall 2007 relative to the Xbox 360 which enjoyed Halo 3, Mass Effect, and BioShock.

This is a sign that the tide is drastically turning in Sony’s favor and ‘08 looks to be even more promising. With killer software such as Killzone 2, Metal Gear Solid 4, Gran Turismo 5, Resistance 2, MotorStorm 2, Little Big Planet, Grand Theft Auto 4, and Devil May Cry 4, Sony is looking poised to recapture the industry the videogame industry. With Blu-Ray’s victorious defeat over HD-DVD, the popularity of high-definition media will only increase, leading the way for billions in profit for Sony over the next decade.

Indeed, 2008 is the year of Sony.


2007 Quarter 1 PS3 sales = 1.91 million units.
2007 Quarter 2 PS3 sales = .71 million units.
2007 Quarter 3 PS3 sales = 1.31 million units.
2007 Quarter 4 PS3 sales = 4.90 million units.
http://www.scei.co.jp/corporate/data...s3_sale_e.html


2007 PS3 annual sales total = 8.83 million units sold worldwide compared to 7.3 million units of Xbox 360 sold worldwide in 2007.


They have alot of ground left in america to catch up on. But overall they've definitely made progress. More than enough to get some momentum this year depending on the quality of their exclusives.