Sony Q2 - PS3 business grows while corp takes hammering

Sony's results for the three months ending September 30 have shown gains for the firm's PS3 business, but the overall business has suffered heavy losses.

PS3 hardware sold 3.7 million units for the quarter, compared to 3.5 million in the same period last year. The addition puts official global PlayStation 3 sales at 56 million.

Global Xbox 360 sales stand at 57.3 million.

PS3 software also rose, up from 35.3 million units in Q2 2010 to 37.4 million this year.

Solid games figures were overshadowed by heavy corporation losses, however: Sony has reporting a 27 billion yen ($346 million) loss for the latest quarter, blaming strong yen and poor TV sales. Poor overall results had been predicted.

Elsewhere in Sony's game segment, PSP hardware sales rose for the quarter, up to 1.7 million units from 1.5 million in 2010, but software sales again dropped, down from 11 million in the prior corresponding period to 8.1 million this year.

The PlayStation 2 business continued its inevitable decline, down from 1.5 million hardware sales in the second period last year to 1.2 million this time. PS2 software fell heavily, from 5.6 million in the same period last year to 2.8 million in Q2 2010.