Coinciding with our earlier reports of Sony's downward revisions to its year 2006 earnings forecast comes news of another downward revision, this time concerning the PSP. Sony has lowered its shipping forecast for the system for the fiscal year from the initial target of 12 million units down to 9 million.
As part of its earnings revision statement earlier today, Sony cited the poorer-than-expected performance for the PSP as one of the main reasons for a drop in expected operating profit for its game division. Other reasons were the recent lowering of the PS3's price in Japan and the inclusion of HDMI ports in all PS3 models.
The PSP isn't on its last legs yet, though. Sony's Chief Financial Officer Nobuyuki Oneda made mention today of a rethinking of PSP strategy, stating "We'll have to increase the ways of enjoying the PSP, with the development of software and peripherals. Sony Computer Entertainment is currently investigating solutions."
While the company dropped its estimate for PSP shipments, it stood firm on its PS3 shipment targets of 6 million by the end of March 2007.
Why are people down on the PSP, yep sure it hasnt beaten the DS but lets be honest Sony are taking on the runaway kings of handheld consoles and have done a great job in giving the DS a good run for its money, seems like the press should remember that.