Though currently riding high on continuing strong sales of the Playstation Portable and the recent launch of Konami’s Metal Gear Solid 4, Sony seems likely to run a close second to Nintendo by the end of year if the two companies attain their respective shipment targets.

Efforts to lower the production costs of the hefty Playstation 3 appeared to have paid off, with operating profit Y5.4 billion in the quarter as opposed to the Y29 billion loss recorded this time last year.

But the return of black ink at the games division after so many quarters in the red was small consolation to investors, after the Japanese electronics giant yesterday unveiled group-wide results which one analyst at KBC said were “not pretty, however you slice and dice them.”

The electronics giant, viewed by many as a bellwether of Japan’s export-led economy, disappointed investors with a lacklustre quarterly performance which missed market forecasts and could herald a punishing phase for consumer electronics.

The downbeat numbers follow months of apparently brightening prospects under Sir Howard Stringer – the group’s first ever non-Japanese chief executive who has spent nearly three years attempting to re-craft the company.

But yesterday’s reckoning of quarterly net profits, which took a 47 per cent year-on-year nosedive, suggests there remains a mountain to climb.

Analysts said that the numbers, which were difficult to assess properly because of changes to the way they were calculated, demonstrated Sony’s continuing vulnerability to the overall economic picture and the US and European slump.