Massive PS4 sales have boosted Sony’s profits for the Christmas quarter.
During the financial quarter over the Christmas period, huge PS4 sales figures helped Sony achieve significant profits.
The Japanese electronics giant saw an 89 billion yen (£499.5 million) profit for the third quarter ending December 31, up from 26.4 billion yen (£148 million) for the same period the previous year.
Sony’s Game and Network Services division, which houses the PlayStation sector, saw an operating income of 27.6 billion yen (£155 million).
That income was fuelled by 6.4 million PS4 shipments to retailers and a massive 147 million game sales.
For the same period the year before, Sony sold 4.5 million PS4 consoles and 128 million games and achieved an operating income of 12.4 billion yen (£69 million).
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Sony states that sales have increased 16.8 per cent year-on-year to 531.5 billion yen (£3 billion).
This was down to the increased PS4 sales, a “favourable impact of foreign exchange rates” and a “significant increase” in network services revenue. The latter is down to PlayStation Plus subscriptions and PSN game/content sales.
Not surprisingly, PS3 console and game sales have decreased, with only 1.1 million PlayStation 3 consoles sold in the quarter.
Sony also took an 11.2 billion yen (£62 million) write-down of PS TV and PS Vita components, which the company attributed to lower PS TV sales than expected rather than an indication of the struggling PS Vita.
The company also saw a “significiant” operating income increase from the Mobile Communications division, thanks to improved smartphone sales.
What did hold the company back was Sony’s rather expensive exit from the PC business and a “significant” decrease in sales from the Sony Pictures division – that’s probably down to The Interview, and North Korea.
The full financial year ends March 31 2015 and the Game and Network Services division expects an operating income on 40 billion yen (£225 million), with 17.5 million PS4 and PS3 combined console sales and a whopping 420 million game sales.
Overall Sony expects to achieve an operating income of 20 billion yen (£112 million) for the full financial year.
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