Sony's 3Q financials, Vita up thanks to Japan and Christmas

Sony has announced that it is selling its Vaio PC business as it aims to turn the company around, while making a small profit for the quarter, but still predicting big annual losses. Sony remains vague about Vita sales putting it and the PSP together for an improved, but still diddly, 2 million sales in the quarter -- up from around 800,000 in the last quarter.

Half a million of those Vita sales come from Japan since the launch of the Vita 2000, leaving the remaining 1.5 million spread around the world, likely thanks to seasonal sales. You can throw in another 200,000 Japanese sales since New Year, and with launches in Asia and the new model in the UK to come, Sony might just get a decent boost, as Japan can't carry the whole handheld universe.


PS3 and PS4 sales were a more substantial 7.8 million, with the PS4 announced as selling around 4.2 million, helping drive the PlayStation division in to the black. Sony also saw increasing smartphone sales but with the PSP/Vita likely to hit Sony's worst-case 5 million figure for the year, the handheld needs a major boost in western software to get any momentum.

On the services side, PlayStation Plus is a big winner, with subscriptions up providing useful regular income, and PlayStation Now has the potential to offer a similar bulge in Sony's wallet as it rolls out.