During the recorded period, which ended December 31, the group that the PlayStation brand calls home boosted its operating income to ¥45.7 billion (approx. $564 million*) in 2010 versus ¥19.5B (approx. $238.8M*); an increase of 134.9 per cent. According to the earnings report released by Sony, "The game business benefited from significant cost reductions of PlayStation 3 (PS3) hardware and higher unit sales of PS3 software."

Quarterly sales saw a slight 6.4% reduction year-over-year; with sales to outside customers dipping 7.4% in the same period. Sony attributed the drop to "a decrease in sale in the game business resulting primarily from unfavorable foreign exchange rates." A reasoning Nintendo has become all too familiar with.

Though Sony's 2010 hardware sales for the PlayStation 3 console has increased from 10.8 million units to 12.2 million in the first three quarters versus last year, sales specific to the third quarter were down slightly. Sony has maintained its forecast of 15 million units for the home console by the end of the year versus 13 million in 2009. Software sales also saw an impressive spike, climbing to 57.6M units in Q3 2010 versus 47.6 in Q3 2009.

Sales projections for the PlayStation Portable also remain at 8 million units, as established in the company's second quarter report, versus its 9.9 million units sold last year.

While software for the PSP was up during the quarter, we imagine sales will lag now that the PSP's successor has been revealed to the public for a "Holiday 2011" release. Unless more God of War games come out on the current PSP, in which case we're already sold.

*Currency exchange was established via Google's daily rate at the time the post was written.