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Sony financials reveal PlayStation accounts for 78 percent of profits

The company reports it shipped 3.5 million PS4 units in three months.

GameSpot staff
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GameSpot staff
2 min read

Sony Corporation has detailed its financial results for the three-month period spanning April 1 to June 30. The Game & Network Services division, under which PlayStation operates, was revealed to be one of its strongest, having reported increases in both sales and profit.

During the period, the G&NS division cited sales at $3.2 billion, which is a 14 percent improvement over the same period in 2015. Operating income was $427 million, which is a 126 percent increase over 2015. Sony Corp's overall profits were stated as $546 million, which means the games division accounted for about 78 percent of it.

According to Sony, its rise in sales was due to "a significant increase in PS4 software sales, including sales through the [PlayStation] network." PS4 hardware cost reduction also contributed to the improvements.

Sales of the PS4 were listed as 3.5 million units in these three months. This brings total global sales of the PS4 to around 43.5 million units.

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Sony

Looking ahead, Sony's forecast states it expects sales to be "lower than the May forecast due to the impact of foreign exchange rates." However, it believes there will be an increase in PS4 software sales, including sales through the PlayStation network, that will slightly offset this.

Overall, Sony Corporation's sales and profits are down year-on-year. The majority of its various divisions did not show improvement and, as a result, the games business was shown to be one of its healthiest.

In May, Sony projected it will sell 20 million PS4 consoles in the financial year ending March 31, 2017. With these projections factored in to existing sales numbers, PS4's global sales would be 60 million by March 2017.

Analysts believe thePS4 will go on to sell more than 100 million units worldwide before its life cycle is over. This is a milestone that only five other consoles have reached.