It looks like the troubled economy is still affecting Sony, as the company has reported a loss in earnings for the first quarter of 2009. Specifically, Sony's Networked Product and Services division, which includes the PlayStation and PSP lines, saw a decline in sales based on the same time frame from one year ago. In the first quarter of 2009, 1.1 million PlayStation 3 units were sold, compared to 1.6 million for 2008. Even more significantly, 1.3 million PSPs were sold in Q1 09, compared to 3.7 million in 08. That's a nearly 50% drop-off for PSP sales in one year. Granted, the rumors of a UMD-less PSP have existed for over a year, which may have turned some people off from buying a PSP, but that is a significant drop-off.

The PlayStation business area, which also includes Sony's Viao PCs, saw its sales shrink 37.4 percent to $2.571 billion (¥246.8 billion), which Sony said was "due to lower game and Vaio PC sales". Further, the division posted an operating loss of $414 million (¥39.7 billion), which, according to Sony, was "mainly due to a deterioration in profitability in the game and Vaio PC business".

All in all, it adds up (or rather, subtracts down) to yet another bad quarter for Sony. It's hard to say why the general public seems so averse to buying the PlayStation 3 in the kind of numbers the Wii, 360, and even the PS2 seem to reach with seeming ease. I guess this points to the validity of those who say the PS3 is overdue for a price cut.

[Source]