Vita sales forecasts have been cut again and the PlayStation business is down 15 percent year-on-year, confirms the latest financial report (Q3) from Sony.
The platform holder initially forecast 16 million portable console (Vita) sales in May 2012, which was later dropped to 12 Million in August and revised once more to 10 million in November. The PSP and PlayStation Vita combined are now expected to sell a total of 7 million units by the end of March.
The revenue that was generated by the PlayStation business during the last three months of 2012 came in at 268.5 billion yen, a 15 percent decline. Sony has attributed this to softer demand for PlayStation hardware and software. The PlayStation sector's operating income also dropped year-on-year from 34 billion yen to a measly 4.6 billion.
Sony sold 62 million console games last quarter, and combined PS3 and PS2 hardware sales came in at 6.8 million units - down from 7.4 million in 2011. Total sales for Vita and PSP hardware were up from 2.4 million units to 2.7 million, but software sales dropped from 11.4 million to 8.9 million.
Sony stated "In the game business, Sony is working to expand sales and operating income through the introduction of an attractive software lineup and through offering game software on mobile devices, including smartphones and tablets." The financial report also added that the "slow penetration" of the company's Vita platform was considered an important issue.
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