This outcome is not very surprising given the global economic crisis... but for this to happen to one of the best electronics companies in the world... you would have thought they had some scheme planned to counter any acute recessions. I don't think this can be directly or exclusively associated to the PS3's unexpectedly slow climb as a gaming console.
On the same note, MS doesn't seem to be having so many economic problems. Does that mean that software companies are pulling it off way better than hardware companies, like Sony?