Sponsored By

Sony Game Division Shows Profit, Imminent PS3 Loss

Officials from Sony have announced details of the company’s fourth quarter results, for the period ended March 31st, which show a ¥66.5 billion ($578.7m) loss, more than ...

David Jenkins, Blogger

April 27, 2006

1 Min Read
Game Developer logo in a gray background | Game Developer

Officials from Sony have announced details of the company’s fourth quarter results, for the period ended March 31st, which show a ¥66.5 billion ($578.7m) loss, more than the ¥56.5 billion ($491.7m) loss at the same time last year, even though the company's game division, which produces the PS2, PSP, and software for the two machines, still showed a profit. Restructuring expenses of ¥75.3 billion ($655.3m) were blamed for the weak results - these expenses increased from ¥48.6 billion ($422.9m) in the previous year. Quarterly sales rose 8.7 percent to ¥1.85 trillion ($16.10bn), although much of this improvement was due to gains made from the currently weak yen. For the firm's still-profitable games division, profits fell by 79.7 percent to ¥8.7 billion ($75.7m), although sales rose by 31.4 percent to ¥958.6 billion ($8.34bn). Hardware sales for the PSP were described as enjoying a significant increase worldwide, with PlayStation 2 hardware sales on par with the previous year. Software sales for the PlayStation 2 were down, but the increase in PSP sales meant overall software figures were relatively unchanged. For the fiscal year as a whole, the company saw profits of ¥123.6 billion ($1.08bn), down 24.5 percent from ¥163.8 billion ($1.43bn) in fiscal 2004. The company has forecast a ¥130 billion ($1.13bn) profit for the new fiscal year, up 5 percent from the current results, on a sales increase of 10 percent to ¥8.2 trillion ($71.36bn). The company also indicated that it expects its game division to post a loss of around ¥100 billion ($870.6m) for that year, hit by start-up costs for the PlayStation 3 which the company is assumed to be initially selling at a loss.

About the Author

David Jenkins

Blogger

David Jenkins ([email protected]) is a freelance writer and journalist working in the UK. As well as being a regular news contributor to Gamasutra.com, he also writes for newsstand magazines Cube, Games TM and Edge, in addition to working for companies including BBC Worldwide, Disney, Amazon and Telewest.

Daily news, dev blogs, and stories from Game Developer straight to your inbox

You May Also Like