PlayStation 4 Sales Slump Slightly And Sony’s Gaming Profits Fall During Past Quarter

Sony released their latest quarterly earnings report today, and it turns out the last three months weren't great for the company's gaming division. Make no mistake, the PlayStation 4 is still doing well, the quarter was far from a disaster, but this was a rare down period for Sony's gaming division, which has been flying high this generation.

Between April 1 and June 30, Sony shipped 3.3 million PS4 units, which is down from 3.5 million shipped during the same period last year. That brings the total number of PS4s shipped to date, to 63.3. Sony hopes to sell 18 million PS4s this fiscal year, down from the 20 million sold last year.

Sony's gaming revenue jumped slightly to ¥348.1 billion (around $3.15 billion), but operating profit dropped big time to ¥17.7 billion ($160 million), compared to ¥26.3 billion ($238 million) for this period last year. According to Sony, the reason for the drop was the lack of a big triple-A title this quarter – last year Uncharted 4: A Thief's End dropped in May and boosted the quarter significantly.

Of course, Sony is more than its gaming division, and the company as a whole is doing very well – in fact, this past quarter was their most profitable ever, with them bringing in ¥157.6 billion (around $1.4 billion). Sony's overall profitable quarter was fueled by their smartphone business and successful movies like Spider-Man: Homecoming. This is the opposite of how things usually go with Sony, with their movies and mobile divisions typically dragging the company down, while their gaming division rides to the rescue.

The rest of the year may continue to be somewhat slow for PlayStation, as Uncharted: The Lost Legacy and Gran Turismo Sport are the only A-list exclusives coming for the rest of the year. Things should pick up in early 2018, as the company has Spider-Man, God of War, and more big titles on the way.

You can check out WWG's latest PlayStation 4 coverage here.

[via GameSpot]