Tokyo, Feb 3 : Sony said Wednesday it expects a record net profit this financial year, as fresh virus lockdowns continue to boost demand for games and consoles, including the recently released PlayStation 5.
Although the pandemic has hit many industries hard, the gaming sector has been one of the few to experience an unprecedented boom, with people seeking entertainment at home during successive rounds of restrictions.
The Japanese tech giant said net profit jumped 87 percent in April-December from the same period earlier, to 1.1 trillion yen ($10 billion).
Sony’s strong results led the firm to revise its full-year sales and profits forecasts upwards on the back of “higher-than-expected sales in all segments except for the pictures (movies) segment,” it said.
Full-year sales are now projected at 8.8 trillion yen, up from 8.5 trillion yen forecast in October.
Sony, which also revised its annual forecasts up last quarter, hiked net profit outlook to a record 1.1 trillion yen for the fiscal year to March, from an earlier estimate of 800 billion yen.
The much anticipated PlayStation 5 console hit shelves in November, kicking off a head-to-head battle for holiday sales with the new Xbox from US rival Microsoft.
PS5 sales reached 4.5 million units by end-December and Sony expects to sell 7.6 million by the end of March, hoping to beat the performance of the PlayStation 4.
But pandemic-related supply problems have left many would-be customers empty-handed.
The demand has led to chaotic scenes at electronic stores when supplies do become available.
“PS5 got off to a steady start in general, selling well in accordance with its plan,” said Hideki Yasuda, an analyst at Ace Research Institute in Tokyo.
