Sony is currently going through a tough period, with newly instilled CEO Kaz Hirai tasked with changing the firm’s fortunes around. Their downfall in sales relating to all of their business sectors is evidenced by today’s confirmation of a $2.9 billion loss. While the focus for Hirai is predominately Sony’s dying TV business among others, it seems the company’s gaming division is also suffering too.
Wedbush Securities analyst Michael Pachter stated in a note that PlayStation 3 hardware sales should continue to lag behind the sales pertaining to Microsoft’s platform, the Xbox 360. Furthermore, he also expects Sony to announce another price cut to their console during this year’s E3:
We expect hardware sales to rebound once price cuts are implemented, but expect a recurrence of the dip next holiday, partially buffered by some modest contribution from the introduction of the PS Vita in February and the Wii U later this year.
PS3 hardware sales should continue to lag those of the Xbox 360, and we expect sales to trend downward by 10 – 20% monthly, until Sony cuts prices once again, likely at E3.
Additionally, with NPD due to unveil sales data from last month for gaming software sales, Wedbush NPD preview’s estimate that March won’t be much of an improvement from past months. They expect NPD’s sales data will confirm the fourth concurrent monthly decline in the gaming industry via a 23% drop in software sales which amounts to $565 million.
Despite having a price cut applied last year in August during gamescom, do you believe Sony will announce a further reduction regarding the PS3’s price during E3? Share your thoughts via the comment section below.
[Via]
