PS5 sales surpass 65 million as Sony’s third-quarter profit soars 73 percent
Sony Group Corp. boosted its revenue outlook thanks to strong music sales and a surprise boost from the Chinese video game hit Black Myth: Wukong to its PlayStation segment.
The Tokyo-based company said it now expects net sales of JPY 12.71 trillion ($83.2 billion or Rs. 7,02,023 crore) in the year to March, slightly higher than its previous forecast. However, the company stood by its operating profit outlook and pointed to a slowdown in demand for image sensors in North America.
Sony, which creates entertainment content but also supplies smartphone components to Apple Inc., among others. and Xiaomi Corp., reported a bigger-than-expected 73 percent increase in operating profit in the September quarter.
Friday’s earnings results underlined the power of a few hit titles to influence Sony’s PlayStation business segment, now four years into the latest generation of hardware. Sales of both external games and in-house titles such as Astrobot strengthened profits, coupled with better margins on hardware sales, the company said. That was despite flops like a big-budget live service game Treaty.
The company sold 3.8 million PlayStation 5 units in the quarter, leading to an upward revision to its gaming and network services division’s earnings forecast of 11 percent.
“The gaming segment is offsetting the decline in demand for image sensors in North America, while there is room for growth in the music industry,” said Masahiro Wakasugi of Bloomberg Intelligence.
The entertainment group this week launched PlayStation 5 Pro, an expensive, powerful version of the company’s flagship gaming console aimed at preventing spillovers to rival platforms during the holiday shopping season. Next year, Sony is waiting for blockbuster titles, including those from Capcom Co Monster Hunter Wilds and Rockstar Games Inc.’s Grand Theft Auto VI.
As one of the largest music companies in the world, Sony also benefits from the popularity of streaming services such as Spotify. U.S.-traded shares of Spotify Technology SA have more than doubled this year on optimism for sustainable growth. Sony’s music group also houses some of its smartphone games and anime publishing businesses, with both seeing huge popularity outside Japan.
The company’s film business has yet to fully recover from last year’s Hollywood strikes by actors and writers, while falling advertising revenues in India are also weighing on the company, executives said.
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