PS3 may cause 50 percent plunge in Sony profits

Bloomberg on Mon. reported that profits at Sony Corp. may plunge 50 percent due to production delays and price cuts for the Playstation 3.

The losses from the game division are expected to drive down net income to 84.1 billion yen ($691 million) from 168.9 billion yen the year prior.

In addition, the games division is expected to lose 191.9 billion yen, compared to a profit of 8.7 billion yen a year earlier.

The third-quarter estimates are the result of a median estimate of five analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.

In Jan., Sony announced that it had shipped 1 million PS3 units to the U.S. In mid-Jan. it had shipped an additional 1 million to Japan, missing a worldwide year-end goal by two weeks.

The PS3 has encountered strong competition from rival game offerings like Nintendo Co.'s Wii and Microsoft Corp.'s Xbox 360. Both machines outsold the PS3 during the key holiday sales period in the U.S.

Sony currently maintains a shipment forecast of 6 million PS3 units sold worldwide by Mar. 2007.