Sony's annual PlayStation 3 shipments were just shy of the predicted 9.5 million units, totaling roughly 9.24 million units.

Some consolation for Sony will be that its PlayStation Portable business now appears to be on the right track following a lackluster debut. Shipments of the handheld gaming device came in ahead of target at 13.89 million units. Sony had been anticipating shipments of only 13 million consoles in the year. PlayStation 2 shipments showed weakness, which had been expected as consumers focused on the higher profile and higher power PlayStation 2. A total of 13.73 million PlayStation 2 consoles were shipped in the year. "The PlayStation 3 platform expanded worldwide with an enhanced software line-up and a new model," Sony's chief financial officer Nobuyuki Oneda said at a Tokyo news conference on Wednesday. "Due to a reduction in the manufacturing cost of the PlayStation 3 and reduction in software prices, operating losses shrunk significantly and the business was in the black in the second half of the year."