Sony Posts Healthy Profit Gains As PlayStation 4 Sales Accelerate
Sony sold more PlayStation 4 (PS4) hardware and software than it was anticipating during the company's fiscal second quarter ended September 30, 2018, and those additional sales helped catapult the Japanese electronic maker's three-month profit to just over $2.1 billion. This also prompted Sony to raise its full year forecast to $7.7 billion, up a whopping 30 percent for what it was forecasting in July.
The PlayStation division, or "Games & Network Services (G&NS)" if we're being formal, led the way with nearly $5 billion in revenue, generating a profit of more than $800 million. Even more impressive is that the PS4 is raking in these kinds of numbers nearly five years after it was introduced. Sony has kept the PS4 relevant with key upgrades like the PS4 Pro, which delivers 4K rendering and HDR capabilities, along with bundles and limited edition releases.
Sony did not break down PS4 sales by bundles and special versions, but releases like the limited edition Spider-Man bundle undoubtedly helped push sales during the three-month period. In total, Sony sold 3.9 million PS4 consoles combined during the most recent quarter, bringing sales to date to over 86 million units.
That is a lot of consoles at this stage of the game, and exclusives are playing a big role. To wit, Marvel's Spider-Man, available exclusively on the PS4, notched 3.3 million unit sales during the first three days since it launched. God of War is another popular title that is available only on the PS4. It also wasn't far behind Spider-Man in three-day sales, notching 3.1 million copies sold.
These numbers bode well for Sony CEO Kenichiro Yoshida, who has only been at the helm for six months. They show that Sony is a well-oiled machine. That doesn't mean Yoshida can be lax. In particular, Sony's feisty stance on cross-platform play could eventually bite the company in the backside. To its credit, the company did finally relent on agreeing to implement cross-play support in Fortnite, but it remains to be seen how it will handle future titles.
That's a topic for another day. For now, the PS4 remains a strong contributor to Sony's bottom line.
