Slowing PS2 Dents Sony Profits

Thanks to BBC News for their article discussing the fall in Sony's quarterly profit by 25 percent, blamed partially on "feeble sales in many products - most notably games hardware." The article points out: "Sony's game division, which produces both hardware and software for games, saw its sales fall to 161bn yen in the third quarter, from 250bn yen a year earlier", and a Reuters article adds analysis, pointing out the 91 percent operating profit reduction was partly down to "...additional research and development cost for next-generation microchips", as Sony ramp up R+D for the PlayStation 3. But although an analyst commented that "...the game division was hit harder than we had anticipated", the company will still be making a nearly $1 billion overall profit for the year, with PS2 by far the most popular, currently best-selling worldwide console.