6.4 million PS4 units shipped in Q3 FY15

Sony's financial report for the third quarter of the 2014 fiscal year was a bit better than expected, but news was still bleak for the struggling tech company which revised its loss projections for the year ending March 31, 2015. Instead of an original projected net loss of ¥230 billion ($1.96 billion), Sony now expects to suffer ¥170 billion in losses ($1.45 billion).

Looking at the latest financial report with a glass half full approach, Sony's Games & Network Services Segment was probably one of the brightest spots for the company, thanks in large part to the PlayStation 4. According to the report, Sony shipped 6.4 million PS4 units (note: shipped =|= sold to consumers) between October 1 and December 31. An additional 1.1 million PS3 units were shipped worldwide. Unfortunately, Sony's handheld division continues to struggle with the PlayStation Vita and PlayStation TV combining to ship just 1.4 million units.

Again though, glass half full, Sony's software sales are up. In the third quarter, Sony shipped ¥147 billion ($1.27 billion) worth of games, up from ¥128 billion ($1.09 billion) during the same period last year. PlayStation Network sales also doubled during the quarter compared to last year, representing ¥100 billion ($851.98 million) in revenue.

Sony also revealed that it's writing off ¥6.2 billion ($52.8 million) for the sale of Sony Online Entertainment, the studio behind PlanetSide 2, H1Z1, DC Universe Online, and numerous EverQuest games. Sony sold the studio to investment firm Columbus Nova, and as a result SOE is henceforth known as Daybreak Game Company. The studio will continue with a business-as-usual approach, but has already announced plans to start developing game for other platforms, not just PlayStation and PC.

Although gaming is one of Sony's strongest divisions, it's clearly not enough to save the company. As we've recently learned, it's also not immune to Sony's cost-saving cuts. Should Sony continue to hemorrhage money, I'd expect the cuts to start dipping further into the gaming division. And it's possible that the struggling Vita and PlayStation TV could be next on the chopping block.