Ouch. Sony announced today that for the third quarter of their fiscal year (ending December 31st, 2011), they were down $2.1 billion and that they expect to lose another $800 million from New Year’s Day through March 31st. Losing nearly $3 billion for the year doesn’t necessarily mean that the PlayStation brand is doomed, however. In fact, Sony expects to sell another 14 million PS3 units during the year.

If PlayStation 3 sales hold their own and the PS Vita does better in the Americas and Europe than it has in Japan, things should improve a bit for Sony. No matter how much money you have in the bank, losing that much is never a fun thing. Good luck on to Kaz Hirai when he takes over as CEO of Sony on April 1st.

Check out the full story at Sony.net.