PlayStation 5 sales hit all-time high, profits hit record

Sony posted record annual operating income on Friday, driven by record sales of its chip division and its flagship PlayStation 5 gaming console.

Here’s how Sony performed in the March quarter against Refinitiv consensus estimates:

• Revenue: 3.06 trillion Japanese yen ($22.7 billion) versus an expected 2.92 trillion yen. This represents a 35% year-on-year increase.
• Operating profit: 128.5 billion Japanese yen versus 124.34 billion yen expected. This represents a year-on-year drop of 7%.

For its full fiscal year ending in March, Sony forecast an operating profit of 1.18 trillion yen and revenue of 11.5 trillion yen. The company beat its own forecast with an operating profit of 1.21 trillion yen, a company record.

Sony forecasts its sales for the current fiscal year ending March 2024 will be 11.5 trillion yen, up from last year. It said operating profit fell 3% year-on-year to 1.17 trillion yen.

Sony said it sold 19.1 million PlayStation 5 consoles this fiscal year, beating its own forecast of 18 million. It sold 11.5 million PS5 units in the previous fiscal year when Sony faced supply chain issues.

The Japanese giant’s gaming division was one of its biggest profit drivers for the year, bringing in an operating profit of ¥250 billion, though that was down 27% year-on-year.

For the fiscal year, Sony’s gaming division brought in 3.64 trillion yen in revenue, up 33% year-on-year. This business is Sony’s largest category of sales.

Sony predicts operating profit for its gaming business will be 270 billion yen for the current fiscal year. The company hopes to boost sales of the company’s virtual reality gaming headset, the PlayStation VR 2. The company said it will see a boost in profits from hardware next year.

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