Sony Struggles as Nintendo Soars

Day by day, Sony's (SNE) core electronics business is looking less like a white elephant. On Oct. 25, the Japanese company swung to a profit in the latest quarter, vs. the year-earlier period, thanks to brisk flat-panel TV and digital camera sales. It also raised its annual profit and sales forecasts from July. In the fiscal year ending March, 2008, Sony now expects overall operating profits to rise fivefold, to more than $3.9 billion, on a modest 8% gain in sales, to $78.8 billion. Both these numbers are 2% higher than earlier estimates.

The improving outlook underscores how more than two years of Chairman and CEO Howard Stringer's tough-love reforms have helped restore the vitality of Sony's key electronics division (BusinessWeek.com, 10/11/07).

But Stringer's record is hardly flawless. The biggest blemish: the money-losing video game business. The July-September quarter offered further evidence that problems plaguing the company's games division aren't going away soon. Had games been less of a drag, the company's overall results might have been more impressive. The games division's quarterly operating losses swelled to $848 million-double the figure from last year-and first-half losses reached $1.1 billion.

[Zhuk]

This is a great time to be a gamer, we are finally seeing the downfall of Sony and they are paying for their lies and arrogance. The PS3 is proving to be a dud while the Wii and Xbox 360 continue to be a favourite among 3rd party developers and consumers, I wonder how much longer third party devs will continue to support the PS3 and its horrible architecture, Sony is already begging them not to abandon the sinking ship so it can't be far off.

[Real gamer 4 life]

Why do you have so much hate for Sony? What did sony ever do to you? And if you think that sony is going down you are wrong, sony is going no where.

[Douchebaggery]

that might be the stupidest f*cking comment ever and that is saying a lot on N4G

[pilotpistolpete]

Sony loosing money: a well known fact, but a little sadening for ps3 owners.

your comment: just sad.

[andy001]

That is just the most ridiculous, juvenile, and uneducated post I have seen on this site. This is the first time I push the ignore button.

[ErcsYou]

anybody that "hopes and prays" for a video game console to fail is not a REAL gamer..some gamers my be a little defensive about their system of choice but most dont wish death upon any system.. the day SEGA dropped the dreamcast in north america was day of morning for ALL gamers..i under stand how you feel about sonys"kens" previous statements about the ps3 but you need to learn to let things go, SONY is doing much better and "Kaz" has stepped in to make things better($399.99 ps3) i know that some gamers don't want a blu ray player and feel that it was forced upon us but most of them don't own a HDTV's..sooner or later you will and you will be happy to have it.

oh and by the way,losing 1 billion dollars in the video game industry is not unheard of....just ask Microsoft, Nintendo and sega

You don't drop out of the console business if ONE of your consoles failed.
SONY has ZERO failed consoles
MICROSOFT has ONE failed console
NINTENDO has THREE failed consoles(N64, GC and VirtualBoy)
SEGA has FIVE failed consoles ( 32x, sega cd, nomad, saturn and dreamcast)

[eLiNeS]

http://www.blogsmithmedia.c...

[Chris_GTR1]

correction..
SONY now has ONE failed console

[feejo]

That the price to pay for CELL that was not design for games. Cell is too advanced for programmers. I will not get a 360 or Wii either.

[PS360WII]

NINTENDO has THREE failed consoles(N64, GC and VirtualBoy)

Not really true. Nintendo still made money off of the N64 and GameCube. So Nintendo only had one failed system the VirtualBoy.

[DeckUKold]

is wrong M$ and nintendo made money and business is all about money the virtua boy tho that was the only failure

EDIT N64 is still my favorite console to date

[jackdoe]

Jeez man. Would Sony losing the console war and MS winning it give you an orgasm or something? Jeez man.

[cmrbe]

I have lost all respect for you. I really did thought that you are a gamer that favours x360 but the truth is you are an immature hateful little kid.

[Antiomo]

Sony Is what made console gaming for the past 2 generations.

Its far from a dud, its showing the exact symptoms as the transition between ps1 > ps2.

Ps2 will SLOWLY die out and make way for the ps3. Plus blu-ray is winning because of he ps3, hence driving down the cost of the technology.

[gen1680]

But if it were in my house the only person that would touch it would be the cleaning lady.

[cloud360-7th_account]

Why do u always use PICS of Ken Kutaragi and PS3 like that

[fredy]

that's SONY Pre-nov 2006... and we have yet to see the Ps3 clawbber the 360 to the ground, like it was suppose to when it first came out.

hey it's just a picture, on that note it is dumb to believe sony is headed for a down fall, but what ill say tho, sony will not dominate like last-gen.

just my opinion..

[cr33ping_death]

PLEASE someone go and find how the 360 is doing horribly in japan......we all know it, MS fans know it should be posted up again as a reminder. everybody knows where the Wii and PS3 stand... so why must this BS be reposted over and over.

edit: you say PS3 fans have this censoreship style in blocking certain news....well yeah when it comes to BS like this....if anything we are blocking your agenda in trying to rally your troops just so they can trash the PS3.

[iceice123]

360 will die withot Japan! Oh wiat...what is this...world wide 360 outsells PS3 EVERY month? Hmmm but IT DOESN'T HAVE JAPAN OH NO!

[shmee]

ps3 outsells x360 in EUROPE and JAPAN

North america is the only place where x360 outsells ps3.

However things would change

[Bloodmask]

Thanks for admitting that you tools censor the news. Constantly reporting things for bogus reasons. And on top of it leaving bad feedback on the post which is against the guidelines.

I approve negative type 360 stories all the time, and don't throw a temper tantrum. I also post a lot of news for this site, but the "only ones" that constantly get reports are negative PS3 types. News is news, good or bad. This article was posted by Newsweek "today". It is neither duplicate or SPAM.

You guys have no right to censor legitimate news. Good or Bad, this isn't News By Gamers. It is News 4 Gamers.

[cr33ping_death]

ok so what if another story like " 360 sales going nowhere in JAPAN" pops up? you will think i know this already,,,,i dont need to re read this and its only going to start a flame war.......plus the pics you use in your stories are always showing the PS3 in bad light. your stories are more than likely legit, but your choices of pics arent going to help your stories get approved.

[OC_MurphysLaw]

The company on a whole is doing great but man their gaming division just continues to take a pounding. Hopefully this holiday will see some relief for them. I have no desire to see Sony completely fail...I like the competition that has arisen between the 3 consoles.

[VendettaWFT]

I mean all this trashing is bullsh!t. It really doesn't matter in the end. Can we just all agree on one thing...like how Josh Beckett is a BEAST for the Red Sox in the post-season. Or how bout we all list our top 3 greatest concerts we've all seen. I'll go first.
1)Tom Petty
2)Jimmy Buffett
3)Smashing Pumpkins (these guys put on a hell of a show)

[ericnellie]

I'll have to agree with you on that one! Competition is a good thing. It forces companies to give customers the best value. Here are a couple of examples.
Microsoft thought a 20GB hard drive was big enough and "us" as gamers disagreed -- do you think they would have come out with a bigger hard drive if Sony didn't exist? Hell NO!
Sony didn't think online game play was important, don't you think that after Sony saw how well Xbox Live did it helped them realize just how important it truly is!
They have forced each other to step up, to excel, to execute and to deliver products with tons of features for a lot less;) As they battle, along with their fanboys -- I'll sit back and enjoy all the best aspects of each platform and I'll drink a few beers while I'm at it;)

[lawler]

Sony failing would probably be good for gaming. It'll serve them right for using less intelligent gamers as a way to get bluray off the ground.

[Real gamer 4 life]

So what Last generation Sony was soaring while nintendo game division was taking a pounding. Did nintendo go out of bussiness ? No they didnt. So sony is not going no where.

[MikeGdaGod]

my logic (true story):

i bought a 360 a few weeks after launch. i also bought the Best Buy extended warranty with it. it had serious disk read errors and scratched some disk. a few months later, i returned it to Best Buy and got a new one. two months later, it gets RRoD. i took it to Best Buy and got a new one.

my point is, Best Buy and MS count the new consoles i recieved as sales when really they're not. i didn't buy multiple 360's, but to MS i count as 3 when really all i have is one.

now just think about how many other people this has happened to. there are people on 5th/6th 360 because they were smart enough to get a warranty. they may only have one 360 but MS counts the new consoles as sales.

360 sales are very misleading and it isn't that far in the lead as many people think.

EDIT:

show proof of what?

when i returned my 360 to Best Buy, they didn't give me a 360 from a special area. they told me to get one right off the sales floor. that counts as a sale.

there were three 360's there and now there isn't. to MS, thats a sale.

[iceice123]

"my point is, Best Buy and MS count the new consoles i recieved as sales when really they're not. i didn't buy multiple 360's, but to MS i count as 3 when really all i have is one."

Care to show some legit proof that isn't a forum post from a lemming site? If not, I feel so sorry for you having to lie to make yourself feel better.

HOLY SH!T you people disagree with me for asking for proof!!! How pathetic can you possibly be?!!!

[creeping judas]

what happens to those consoles you returned?? do they magically disapear never to been seen again. bestbuy or whatever store has to record the return of a product on their accounting system as a return. meaning their stock has to add up at the end of the day.

therefore + 1 unit in as a return - one unit out = zero.

also, if a company as watched by the securites watchdogs was to make an accounting error such as youre proposing, they would be sued within a fraction of a second, when this was discovered.

[MikeGdaGod]

agreed but does MS follow that same pratice.........i doubt it. to them, if 3 consoles were on the sales floor and now three are gone, they must have been sold.

i'm sure Best Buy sends them back to MS and thats were most refurbished systems come from. but notice MS has never said how many systems have had these problems. they've never given a failure rate. all they want you to know is how many have been "sold" or shipped.

i doubt MS would lower their sales numbers by docking the number of defective consoles that have been put out and returned. they want to look like that have a strong lead.

one other thing..............MS never reports how many 360's have been sold, only how many have shipped. meaning they only say how many are out in the world. i don't think they'd get in any trouble because they don't say "sold", the analysist estimate off the "shippped" numbers.

MS could've shipped 14 milllion, but half of those could've been returned or still sitting on selves. we really don't know.

[Rooftrellen]

"Care to show some legit proof that isn't a forum post from a lemming site?"

Ice, we've been though this before, you can't prove a negative.

Can you show me a link that proves the 360 is going to sell moer than 15 million units this gen? No? Then do you think it will? You do think it will sell better than that, but then why no proof?

Exactly, you can't prove a negative.

[DiLeCtioN]

dis is kinda duplicate bloodmask...but anyway its expected from sony cus of hardware man i feel sorry for em

[Bloodmask]

Microsoft and Nintendo both are excelling in sales. Last weeks NPD reports state that they both sold around half a million consoles in NA alone.

Sony's lies and arrogance seem to have backed them into a corner. Perhaps they should have designed a console with developers and their loyal fanbase in mind instead of trying to push their Blu-ray agenda.

[Zhuk]

agreed 100% Bloodmask, I must say that it great to see you contributing so much to the site, especially with the way the fandroids run this site like its their own place for propaganda. Keep up the good work and posting news items which balance out all the pro-PS3 garbage we see

[Sez]

good job man. keep up the good work.you stuck a nerve with these sonyfanboys.now they are looking for something to counter this article.
what i find funny is that sonyfan always want to post reports on MS and bash them every chance they can get.but hate to see the same thing posted about the ps3.if you can't take it then don't dish it out.

[Real gamer 4 life]

Sony Is not selling Software because of the price of their Unit. but know since it lowerd its price we shall hopefully see a increase in sale. i mean wasnt resistance still selling, and it was relased like a year ago. and also didnt motorstorm and resistance sold well over one million.

[ItsDubC]

Does anyone else find it funny that a negative Sony/positive Nintendo story results in flamewars between PS3 and 360 fans? Why aren't Nintendo fans the ones gloating in the face of Sony fans?

This is simply an assessment of the gaming industry status quo.

[Real gamer 4 life]

Because All Xbox trolls wanna see sony fail. They wanna see sony fall just like sega did. But sony is not going nowhere, they lowerd the price of their unit and we will start to see a increase in sales. the only thing that was holding sony back was the price barrier and the lack of software. and know they have relased it first AAA titile racher and clank 11 months before ps3 1 year anniversary. It took the 360 one year to release it first exclusive AAA title

[PimpHandHappy]

will lead to a Sony upturn this Holiday season!

It is funny the Bloodmask you always use the same pic in all ur news post! Is it the 4D or the stupid smurt that makes u hate Sony.

[omfg_111]

a little variaty in your news bloodmask? maybe u try to find something that wont bash the ps3? what its too dificult? wait, you could search for another site that reviews R&C:ToD 9.0+ ! come one ... this aint a hard task! ;)

[AllroundGamer]

xbox360 fryied his braincells, so it's damn hard for him...

[Meus Renaissance]

The pure hatred for Sony some people here have probably stemmed from the fact that they couldn't originally afford a PS3! And yet the constant ramblings, that they've devoted their daily lives to, does nothing to convince others.

I mean, what has Sony taken from them? They've never been interested in Sony or PS3 and Sony have taken nothing from them but this is like a personal vendetta lol. People should be happy with what they have, if not, try to get something you can be happy with.

360 owners are happy with what they have. PS3 owners are happy. And if neither were, they'd buy the other console.

[pilotpistolpete]

It's due to the fact that they need to justify their purchase as being the best choice.

It's almost like schoolyard bullying. The problem is when they start taking this way, way, too seriously. Some of comments here sometimes, just wow.

I mean, take the first comment in this thread for example; sony not making money really made his day? Does that mean he cries when he hears MS is losing money too?

It's ridiculous. Don't these people have lives outside of their consoles?

[PimpHandHappy]

because they bought the system for there fat fukn kid that needs some exercise!

Wii is casual

PS3 and 360 are hardcore but both have games for the casual gamer. PS3 more so with the games that are coming like LBP and Echo Chrome

[Rooftrellen]

What makes a console a casual console?

Surely, it is not the fact that it has casual games, as all of the consoles have casual games (Madden, for instance). It can't be the lack of hardcore games, either, because all consoles have them as well.

I am more inclined to think of a 360 buyer buying it for their "fat kid" than a Wii owner, because I know of people who do virtually nothing but play Halo, while I know a number of normal healthy adults that own and play with a Wii.

[kss]

i am going to kick you in the nuts bloodass

[nevelo07]

ITS so sad to see people on here bash a company that did so much for the gaming industry nintendo did also but sony gave us the first cd based system first movie player based system, now they make some mistakes with ps3 and people are bashing them like they the turds of the industry, come on people show some respect, ms did a good job with the 360 except the hardware failures, i have both and enjoy both but its sad to see most people bash the ps3 so bad especially you bloodmask i mean why do you, 360 is good ps3 is good with a great blu ray player i have a tv for it so its great, lets just enjoy both systems for what they can do xbox has a little better gaming experience for now and ps3 for gaming and watching great quality movies browsing the net if you dont have a pc. lets jsut enjoy gaming please.

[Meus Renaissance]

They hate Sony because Sony hurt their feelings when they priced it 600 dollars last year and so they got the 360 instead. Hence their motivation to boast about the 360 and hate the PS3. They don't want their product to be seen anything but as "the best".

Its like you got the Ferrari I wanted but I had to settle for a Mercedes S Class. So I start chatting crap about Ferrari's and boasting about Mercedes to my friends. Fanboys have psychological issues.

[Meus Renaissance]

Both set of platforms have fanboys but the 360 fanboys are on constant alert it seems, with the usual same articles of "Sony's pending doom" like anyone here actually cares and its the same people who complain about Sony fanboys.

They must think, "we'll shut them up with this". But all it does is motivate the opposite group to "shut" them up. And Bloodmask is losing credibility with every article he posts with that derogative picture to mock PS3. We might aswell have people with the RROD for avatars posting 360 news.

[Bloodmask]

Get over it. I'm sick and tired of you Sony fanboys "constantly" complaining every time a negative PS3 type article gets posted. I have contributed almost 500 news posts to this website. And these are the only type that people like "you" associate me with.

It is simply bc "you" have some bizarre emotional attachment to a console. I don't cry when 360 stories get posted about RROD. This site is flooded with people like you.

You arent fooling me by posting in an elegant vocabulary. You are one in the same. Like I said here are all of my posts. Almost 500 and how many are anti-Sony. If you want more positive PS3 type stories posted then go and find them. Until them stop trying to slander me. I am an active member of this site and post a "variety" of types of NEWs. Here all all of them.

http://www.n4g.com/up/8954/...

[HarryEtTubMan]

You patheitc fool keep spreading your hate it won't helo... pray ur 6million will do something... it won't. You will lose. Talk to me in 5 years when the 360 is dead and the PS3 is selling at its strongest peak. YOU'RE A MORON. A HATER. AND ARE GOING TO LOSE IN THE LONG RUN. But your going to have a PS3 before all this even happens!!! Your a douche and going to be crushed so badly in the next couple years.. 360 doesn't even have much left in it.

[Meus Renaissance]

No one cares what you say. Even those who press "agree" under your posts don't really care what you say as long as anyone bashes the PS3.

Your worst than TheMart and Nasim as they're atleast honest about their bias. This sums up your reputation and its sad that despite you contributing much of your life on this site, not many see any differently.

[Zhuk]

Bloodmask has contributed far more to this site than countless fandroids, I for one applaud all his great work at making N4G a far more fair and balanced news outlet, because a lot of it is run by the PS3 gestapo and their endless hordes of fandroid soldiers who do nothing but post garbage about the PS3

[Real gamer 4 life]

Why so much hate for sony, yes they made a mistake and released a 600 dollar console, but there intention was good. they wanted to add blueray for that developers wont have space limitation and also so that they could give you the best gaming experience, the same goes for the cell procesor. Is not like they are not trying to lower the price, because they are. Is so sad that this company take so much heat and that people want to see them fail. If you ask me i would rather see nintendo or sony dominate the gameing industry.

[vaan]

WOW! How refreshing it is to see BLOODSTOOL never posts negative and or anti Sony FUD BS!
*end sarcasm*

[IntelligentAj]

I'm reading a lot of hate against the PS3 but did nobody notice that the company as a whole is doing better than previously thought. I thought that Sony was going to live or die by the PS3 but if it can post an operating profit WITH the losses that the PS3 is accumulating then I'm tempted to say they'll be fine.

Also those who see the downfall of Sony: What was the 360's operating costs in it's first year?Did they not post a big loss also? This is the consoles 2nd year and they are soaring now(which is expected in the current game market). The PS3 has only been out 1 year so don't you think your talk is a little premature?Damn... you people.

[Almighty]

Wow Nintendo is raping everybody, and why? because they are smart.

Just look at Sony, they are doomed because of their stupid choices.

[kingfury]

And Micropi$$ cant never seem to get their consoles working. Nor get Sony's exclusives.
LOL!

[Rooftrellen]

Because that has everything to do with Nintendo and Sony?

I must have missed the memo when MS bought one of them out, then, because I could have sworn MS had no part in the decision making of Sony or Nintendo.

[Lionsguard]

water is wet and the sky is blue! hey Bloodmask this is news thats been known for the past year since PS3 came out. Why don't you find some real news rather than googling "Sony struggles" and refreshing the page every 5 seconds you damn loser. It's just hilarious how you always post bad ps3 news, is the PS3 that threatening to you? bah you're probably too busy refreshing the google tab to read this anyway.

[KeiZka]

Bigot.

[harpua]

In the history of all three gaming divisions only Sony and Nintendo have turned a profit. MS is still in the hole from the original xbox. So who is really struggling here?

[jaja1434]

Are we talking companies or just systems? If its companies, then sadly Sony is doing just horribly as a while company.

If its systems then well both are not making money at the moment. Though MS is excepting to be in the black sometime next summer. Not sure when Sony is, though I doubt the price cuts are helping that any. :(

[gamehendge]

I think he was referring to "in the history of game consoles." Obviously Nintendo and Sony have had alot of success and MS has not turned a profit yet was the main point.

[jaja1434]

Ah. Still seems silly to compare them together though doesn't it?

[Golem]

It is very interesting to read the amount of enjoyment some people obtain from the suffering of others. I wonder if the people here actually think of these corporations as real companies with people working there with families to feed, or as giant vacuums out to suck up as much money as possible.

In the end when you say something like "This is a great time to be a gamer, we are finally seeing the downfall of Sony and they are paying for their lies and arrogance." You are really saying "I hope Sony goes out of business so all of its employees who work very hard at their jobs to feed their families will be out of work." You have to understand that the higher ups in these companies don't pay nearly the same price when things go poorly as the normal programmers and market researchers.

[jaja1434]

Bloodmask...I think I will have to hunt you down and shove pancakes down your neck if you keep using that same picture...Be creative you lazy bum!
()()
(="=)
c(")(")

[Leg-End]

and can someone please tell me why people love the wii so much

[ItsDubC]

Affordable fun