CHIBA, Japan -- Ditch the ski chalet getaway. Play videogames at home instead.
That is what Sony Corp. and Microsoft Corp. are hoping consumers will do as their gaming divisions head into a likely sluggish holiday season.
At an upbeat presentation at the Tokyo Games Show, Sony's games chief, Kazuo Hirai, was bullish on the company's sales targets despite the global economic slowdown. Mr. Hirai said the company is on track to meet its goal of selling 10 million units of the PlayStation 3 videogame console and 15 million units of the handheld PlayStation Portable in the year ending March 31, 2009.
"I wouldn't go so far as to say we're recession proof, but we expect to be hit much less than an auto company, for example," said Mr. Hirai, chief executive of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc., the videogames unit. "We expect to do very well in the year-end shopping season."
