Sony to Double PS2 Shipments & Climb Out of the Red

Sony has announced that the company intends to ship 20 million Playstation 2 units in the company’s next fiscal year, which begins in April. That’s more than double the number of PS2 units Sony shipped in the Playstation 2’s first year. Sony company president President Ken Kutaragi stated that problems with production of the “Graphic Synthesizer” PS2 computer chip have been alleviated, and production of the game console has been steadily increasing. Shortages in chip production forced Sony to reduce its estimated shipment of 10 million PS2 units in the first fiscal year, to 9 million. So far, consumer demand for the PS2 has outweighed production, and sales are expected to continue to increase with the release of more software titles. As of February 18th, 142 games were available for the PS2 (most of them only available in Japan), and 45 more are due out by the end of March. Sony expects to authorize 370 more titles in the next fiscal year. The increase in number of available software titles and an increase in production of the PS2 unit itself should help Sony’s financial outlook. Losses from Sony Computer Entertainment in the first year of the PS2’s existance have reduced the overall profit of the entire Sony corporation. Sony’s chief financial officer has stated, “we expect to return to profitability at quite an early stage of next fiscal year.”

Source: Dow Jones.com