Sony is still in the black, though it can thank PlayStation for offsetting the costs inflicted by Japan's recent earthquake disaster. Profits plunged 42 per cent year-over-year in the three month period ending 30th June, with the company racking up ¥56.2 billion ($542 million) in operating income. The company's gaming division accounted for ¥44.0 billion ($424 million) of that, while its semiconductors department wiped almost all of that out as it was forced to close one of its lucrative image sensor plants in the stricken Kumamoto.
Natural disasters aside, gaffer Kaz Hirai should be relatively pleased with the report. He's cut the company's smartphone business to a size where it's now profitable, and all of its other divisions aside from the turbulent Sony Pictures managed to turn a profit. Looking forward, the manufacturer still expects to sell 20 million PS4 consoles in the fiscal year scheduled to end 31st March, lending more credence to reports that the PS4K (or Neo) will deploy in time for Christmas.
In fact, it notes that an increase in marketing spend may have an impact on its operating income moving forward, which again points to the impending release of new hardware. We already know that it's got PlayStation VR on the horizon, but with supply set to be low at launch, we can't see it advertising the device too heavily this year. More likely is that it will be blowing its advertising budget on its updated console, which can't be far away now.
[source sony.net]
Comments 7
@Neolit lol no, I meant in the black. Fixed.
@Neolit Comments corrections are fine.
I'd be surprised if Sony didn't market PSVR more then PS4K considering Sony want it to be the entry point for high end VR experiences, plus the time they have given it too.
@adf86 They may well do. I'm sure both pieces of hardware will have huge campaigns either way.
If Sony did not make so many s*** movies perhaps they would do even better.
Sonys financials are actually down by over 10% and profits down by 42% year on year. The headline seems to indicate that Sony as whole are still growing in terms of profitability.
According to VentureBeat, in the first fiscal quarter Sony generated $3.2 billion in revenues from its game and network services division. This is up 14.5 percent from the same period last year, and the division's operating income was $427 million, a huge 126.3 percent spike since last year
Gaming made up 78 percent of Sony's $546 million quarterly profit total. The company pointed out that the increase is mainly due to games rather than hardware sales, however the company has also been helped by reduced manufacturing costs for the PlayStation 4.
Its the gaming side that are keeping Sony in the Black at the moment. With the launch of Neo and PSVR adding to the hardware sales/profits, it could see a turn around and growth in profits rather than a decline.
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