Sony lifts profit forecast as games business shines
The Sony logo is displayed outside the company's headquarters in Tokyo, Japan, on Feb 16, 2023. (Photo: REUTERS/Issei Kato)
TOKYO: Sony on Thursday (Feb 13) raised its operating profit forecast for the year ending in March by 2 per cent to ¥1.34 trillion (US$8.70 billion) as it reported strong growth at its key gaming unit.
Once best known for consumer electronics such as the Walkman, Sony's business spans games, movies, music and image sensors.
Profit at the gaming business grew 37 per cent in the October-December quarter, driven by higher sales including from network services and reduced losses from hardware.
President Hiroki Totoki is strengthening his grip over the Japanese technology and entertainment conglomerate, taking the CEO role from April.
Totoki has served as finance chief and took executive roles at the games unit while moving to improve margins.
Sony sold 9.5 million PlayStation 5 units during the quarter, compared to 8.2 million units a year earlier.
Totoki said he expected forthcoming titles to support the games business in the coming fiscal year.
Anticipated upcoming games include Grand Theft Auto VI, which Take-Two Interactive Software last week reiterated would launch this autumn.
Monthly active users on PlayStation Network grew more than 10 per cent to 129 million users compared to three months earlier.
The network was recently disrupted by a global outage.
Sony's music unit's profits were also boosted by higher revenue from streaming services.
Group profit in the third quarter was ¥469.3 billion, up 1 per cent on a year earlier and beating analysts' estimates.
Sony posted flat operating profit at the unit that makes hardware such as cameras following lower sales of televisions.
The conglomerate agreed to invest in media powerhouse Kadokawa last year as it expands in entertainment.
Sony said it would buy back up to 30 million shares for some ¥50 billion.
