SCE chief executive Kaz Hirai has stated that Sony’s PlayStation gaming business is hoping to post a profit in its next financial year following some strong Xmas sales of its three consoles in North America.

SCEA today confirmed that the firm sold 3.9 million PS3, PS2 and PSP consoles in North America between November 23rd and December 31st last year. Of those sales 1.2 million were PS3, 1.3 million PS2 and 1.4 million PSP.

"The PlayStation brand ended the year in a very strong position and clearly indicates more positive momentum going into 2008,” SCEA CEO Jack Tretton stated.

“We are particularly pleased to have sold through 1.2 million units of PS3 during the holiday selling season. Consumers are clearly responding to the expanding multimedia capabilities and a great line-up of over 200 games."

And speaking of Sony’s profitable aspirations, Kaz Hirai told Reuters that: "We want to get to the positive side of the equation as quickly as possible. The next fiscal year starts in April and if we can try to achieve that in the next fiscal year that would be a great thing. We are going through the budgets right now.

“Profitability is not a definite commitment, but that is what I would like to try to shoot for."

"Component costs are coming down. The 40GB PS3 obviously has fewer components and uses less power, which means that components required to dissipate heat, for example, can be smaller, so there is some cost reduction there."