Sony is sticking to its target of shipping 2 million PlayStation 3 consoles by the end of the calendar year, its president said yesterday, addressing concerns the company might not meet demand ahead of the critical holiday season.
Speaking at a press conference in Tokyo, Sony Corp president Ryoji Chubachi also said there were no expected changes in the cost of an embarrassing global recall of Sony laptop batteries, which has affected almost every major laptop maker in the world.
"Sales are meeting our expectations," Chubachi said of the PS3, the powerful update to its popular PlayStation video game console series. "Two million by the end of the year is within our range."
Tokyo-based Sony also expects to meet its shipment target of 6 million PS3 ready by the end of the fiscal year ending March and will launch its next generation system in Europe as soon as possible, Chubachi said.
PlayStation 3 made its highly anticipated world debut in Japan last month to long lines.
Chubachi said Sony is working to cut PS3 production costs, and expected to see the effects of that next year. A weak yen against the euro is also expected to minimize losses it makes on consoles sold in Europe and play to Sony's advantage.
He also said a recent management reshuffle -- which saw technology guru Ken Kutaragi relieved of day-to-day responsibilities as president of Sony's game unit -- was meant to reflect more emphasis on software development and marketing elements of an increasingly vital business for the company.
"With the PS3 launch, the entire game industry will expand. Its positioning within the Sony group is larger than ever," Chubachi said.
Kutaragi, also known as the "father of the PlayStation," was technically promoted from president to chairman of Sony's gaming arm. But in Japan, such a move sometimes disguises retirement or demotion -- and analysts have expressed concern that Kutaragi was sidelined over difficulties in the PS3 launch or that the move signals serious disagreements within the group's executives.
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