Hirai hopes for PS3 profit soon

Sony's Kaz Hirai has said that the company hopes the next fiscal year will see the PlayStation 3 console business achieve a profit, GamesIndustry.biz reports.

Speaking at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Hirai said that profitability in the 2008 fiscal year was not a definite commitment, but something the company was striving for.

"We want to get to the positive side of the equation as quickly as possible," commented Hirai, speaking to Reuters.

"The next fiscal year starts in April and if we can try to achieve that in the next fiscal year that would be a great thing. We are going through the budgets right now.

"That [profitability] is not a definite commitment, but that is what I would like to try to shoot for," he said.

Sony has just announced sales figures for the PlayStation 3 during the US holiday period reached 1.2 million, although the machine is still being out-sold by Sony's own PlayStation 2 and PSP consoles.

Production costs for the PlayStation 3 are falling noted Hirai, with the recently introduced 40GB model requiring less components than the higher end 60GB and 80GB models.

"Component costs are coming down, and the number of components... we are seeing a reduction.

"The 40GB PlayStation 3 obviously has fewer components, and uses less power, which means that components required to dissipate heat, for example, can be smaller, so there is some cost reduction there," he added.