PS3 Falls Further Behind in Japan

Any hope from Sony that its fortunes were turning around with the PlayStation 3 were dashed Tuesday as data showed it was falling further behind the Nintendo Wii in sales on its home turf.

Japanese gaming magazine company Enterbrain said that the PS3 had only managed to sell 45,321 units in May, far less than the Wii's 251,794 units during the month of May, a five-to-one margin. In April, the Wii was outselling the PS3 by a four-to-one ratio.

Sony's gaming unit is increasingly becoming a liability for the company, and is beginning to cause concern among investors. For the fiscal year ending March 31, the once powerful unit posted a staggering $2 billion loss.

High losses due to the PS3 are drowning out successes in other aspects of its business, including strong HDTV sales and improving performance in its Blu-ray division. While the results from May do not necessarily mean the Wii has won, the results are not promising.

Sony said it would like to sell 11 million consoles in this fiscal year, which would be double that of the year ending in March. However, one analyst told Reuters that he thought reaching that number would be "difficult."