Sony posts a quarterly profit thanks to the PlayStation 4

It’s not really a secret that Sony’s been scraping by financially recently, despite the impressive success of the PlayStation 4 in the U.S. and Europe. The hardware manufacturer had good news for investors this week, though, as it posted improved sales between April and June as compared to last year. The company’s first quarter net profit of 26.8 billion yen is a 757 percent improvement – that’s right, seven hundred and fifty seven percent – over last year. PlayStation can’t save Sony all by itself quite yet, but the PlayStation arm of the company has raised earlier projections on operating profit by 25 percent, bolstered not only by the system’s strong performance but also by cost reductions in manufacturing PlayStation 4 hardware.

Sony revealed encouraging quarterly results this morning, with year-on-year sales between April and June boosted primarily by the PlayStation 4’s success. The company announced a Q1 net profit of 26.8 billion yen (around $265 million), up no less than 757 percent from the last year’s figures. Sales also rose 5.8 percent to 1.8 trillion yen ($17.92 billion), with the PS4 helping the company’s gaming division post a 95.7 percent year-on-year rise in revenue. While Sony retained an expected net loss of 50 billion yen ($486 million) for the fiscal year ending March 2015, the company’s gaming division raised its sales forecasts in light of the PS4’s “strong performance.” The division now expects to post operating profit of 25 billion yen ($243 million), up 25 percent from projections. Sony attributed the revision to reduced costs in producing PS4 hardware, with the console already selling at a profit beforehand.
Sony didn’t reveal updated sales figures for the system, which launched in November 2013 and as of April 2014 sold 7 million units worldwide. However, the company did note total PS4 and PS3 shipments of 3.5 million between April and June. That’s comparable to the previous quarter’s figure of 3.7 million, suggesting PS4 sales are continuing at similar pace.