Sony"s net profits for the three months to 31 December fell to 159.9bn yen ($1.3bn; £669m) from 168.9bn yen the three months before, a drop in 5.3%. The huge losses were down to the gaming unit, which is currently launching the Playstation 3 around the world.
Losses from the gaming division were too large to offset a profitable quarter from the electronics division, which was driven by strong flat panel sales. Despite posting a loss for this quarter Sony has raised its forecasts for this quarter to 60bn yen, compared with their previous forecast of 50bn yen.
"As a result of the strong performance of the electronics segment during the third quarter, operating results for the segment are trending higher than anticipated at the time of our previous forecast," the company said.