Sony Gains PS3 Sales, Loses Profits

First the good news – the introduction of the PS3 slim sent unit sales skyward for Sony, increasing second quarter 2009 unit sales to 3.2 million, a %33 jump from 2.4 million units in Q2 2008.  Don’t break out the party poppers yet, though, because the rest of Sony’s quarterly earnings announcements aren’t so rosy.  The company took a ¥63.2 billion ($696 million) shortfall in the quarter, mainly attributed to an appreciating yen, an expensive company restructuring, and declining Sony Ericsson Mobile profitability. The company’s other gaming platforms sagged as well, with quarterly year-on-year numbers falling from 2.5 million to 1.9 million for the PS2, and 3.2 million to 3.0 million for the PSP.  These numbers indicate that consumer sentiment echoes the less-than-favorable reception of the PSP Go from critics.  Perhaps an economic recession is a bad time to introduce a handheld with fewer features, is harder to use, and costs more than a previous model – but I’m no economist. [via Gamespot and Sony Global]