Sony's handheld sales fall in Q1 despite PS Vita launch
Anti-halo effect?
Sony’s PlayStation business stumbled considerably during the first quarter of its current fiscal year as it struggled against a rough global market and the strength of the Japanese Yen.
The losses in the PlayStation sector were spread evenly across handhelds and consoles alike. Sales of the PlayStation 2 and PlayStation 3 were down half a million units from last year’s figures.
On the handheld side, The PS Vita and PSP sold a combined 1.4 million units during this quarter, down from 1.8 million units sold during the same time period last year.
The poor performance of the handhelds is slightly embarrassing for Sony, as the PS Vita's debut has led to fewer sales than it had managed with the PSP alone.
Tough timesSony also saw no solace in software sales, as it managed to sell 20.1 million PS3 and PS2 games (combined) in the first quarter of this year, which is down from the 27.6 million sold last year in the same time period.
On the handheld side, the PS Vita and PSP sold a combined 5.8 million software units, down 800,000 from last year’s 6.6 million.
The end result of these losses for the PS Vita was a blow to its forecasted sales: Sony adjusted the number from an expected 16 million units to a more conservative 12 million.
It should be noted that Sony is not the only company to struggle against the current global economy and strong Japanese Yen; Nintendo posted its first ever annual loss earlier this year.