PlayStation Sales Down, But Expected To Swing Back Up This Year

2011’s Tohoku earthquake, floods in Thailand, declining console sales, a PlayStation 3 price cut, and currency exchange rates all added up to a loss of 456.7 billion yen ($5.7 billion) for Sony last year, the company reported in its annual earnings release today.

In its Consumer Products and Services division, Sony shared that sales of the PlayStation 3, PlayStation 2 and PSP all fell as compared to the previous year. Here’s the sales comparison to illustrate the PlayStation family’s performance:

System                          FY2010                  FY2011

PlayStation 3           14.3 million             13.9 million

PlayStation 2           6.4 million               4.1 million

PSP                        8.0 million               6.4 million

Another major factor that played a role in the losses suffered by the Consumer Products and Services division is the PlayStation 3 price cut to $250, which went into effect in August 2011. Meanwhile, software sales for PlayStation 3 were up, while software sales for both PlayStation 2 and PSP were down compared to 2010.

For the ongoing fiscal year, Sony estimate they’ll sell 16 million units of PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 2 hardware combined, and 16 million units of PSP and PlayStation Vita units combined. Total software sales for the four devices are expected to remain approximately the same as 2011. Meanwhile, digital imaging products and PCs are expected to see an improvement in sales as the CP&S division recovers from the impact of the earthquake and flood.

Sony’s overall sales forecast for this fiscal year is 7.4 trillion yen ($92.9 billion) and profits of 30 billion yen ($376.5 million), as opposed to a loss.