Nearly seven years old, the PlayStation 3 has seen one of the longest lifecycles in home consoles. In the latest investor meeting, Sony was asked to elaborate on the possibility of a break-even or slight loss for the PS3 in the fiscal year, while the PlayStation 2 was still generating "nice profits" at the end of its game cycle. Despite its age, and the impending announcement of the PS4, Sony remains confident in the PlayStation 3.
"In its sixth year, I think it still has a long life," Sony Chief Financial Officer Masaru Kato offered. "And here, we're not in the stage where we are losing money in the hardware anymore."
"We have a lot of business in PS3," he added. "Now to give you an indication of how, well, stable this business is, although we have reduced forecast on many of our product lines from television, digital still cameras and, et cetera, but mobile phones and home game devices, we have not changed the forecast on these for this fiscal year. So that I hope will give an indication of our confidence in this platform going forward."
Masaru couldn't discuss the probability that a new PlayStation console would be announced soon, but it's presumed the PS4 is looming in the curtains and ready for its grand debut later this month. Masaru isn't alone in his thoughts that the PS3 still has a lot to offer. Speaking with God of War: Ascension designer Mark Simon, he told me he wouldn't be giving up on the PS3 just yet, while pointing out the slew of great games that are coming.
Unfortunately, things are looking a little gloomier with Sony's handheld, the PlayStation Vita. For a third time Sony has lowered their estimated sales forecast for the Vita. They now expect to sell 7 million PSP and Vita devices combined by March 31, 2013, down from the late November forecast of 10 million.
