Skip to main content

Sony doubles its profit forecast after last year’s record losses

Kaz Hirai
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Just before CEO Kaz Hirai took control of the company at large, Sony reported an unprecedented fiscal hit. In May 2012, Sony reported an annual loss of $5.7 billion after being plagued by low television sales and losses incurred after the 2011 tsunami in Japan. It was expecting things to be one the up and up though, predicting an annual profit of $375 million for the fiscal year ending in March 2013. Despite some fluctuations in that profit forecast since, Sony now expects to actually do better than expected.

Sony announced on Thursday morning in a note to investors that it had revised its profit forecast up. Where it was expecting approximately $201 million at of the end of last quarter, it’s now expecting profits of $401 million. Operating income is also expected to be up to, coming in around $2.3 billion rather than the $1.3 billion it was expecting.

Recommended Videos

Sony attributes the boost in profits to the fluctuation of the Japanese yen over the past few months, as well as the surprise success of Sony Financial Holdings, which performed better in February than it expected. The extra billion in operating income, meanwhile, comes from a few sources, primarily Sony’s massive sale of assets including its corporate headquarters properties in both New York City and Tokyo. 

While Sony’s recovering – a comfort to investors if not its employees that have been laid off in the past year – we’ll have to wait until the company reports its full earnings on May 9 to determine if the PlayStation division has recovered. Diminishing PS3 sales and disappointing PS Vita sales have seen the company’s gaming business drag on the rest of the company’s recovery in the past year.

It’s a difficult time for the PlayStation brand. Despite the positive press in the wake of the PS4’s February reveal, the company is still incurring substantial costs in the PlayStation division that it may not see a return on in the immediate future. Producing the PS4 hardware, games to support it, and the massive online infrastructure needed for its various entertainments is going to be expensive for Sony this year, and profitability from the new PlayStation line – like most consoles in their early days until costs of manufacture lower – is not likely out the gate.

Anthony John Agnello
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Anthony John Agnello is a writer living in New York. He works as the Community Manager of Joystiq.com and his writing has…
Concord is committing to at least three seasons after its launch next week
Two characters face off in Concord.

Concord is releasing next week, so it was about time we got its post-launch road map. Publisher PlayStation revealed plans for the game's first season on Tuesday in a blog post. Among other things, it said that developer Firewalk Studios is committed to around three seasons.

Concord Season 1: Tempest will debut in October with a new playable Freegunner you can add to your roster (16 will be available at launch, along with eight variants that add modifiers to a character), along with a new map, new variants, and more cosmetics. Concord has been marketed as a live-service first-person team shooter with a narrative that's revealed as you play, so there will be new story cinematics to watch, too.

Read more
The best PS3 games of all time
PlayStation 3.

The PlayStation 3 had a rough start. The price was high, and there weren't all that many great games compared to the best Xbox 360 games. However, Sony stuck with it and eventually managed to turn things around, leading to one of the most important generations in terms of new IP. Since that time, video game graphics and gameplay have only gotten more realistic with the best PS4 games and even better with the best PS5 games. 

Despite all the advancements and new consoles, you may sometimes be in the mood to revisit some of your favorite games that you played as a kid or teenager. Sifting through all the old PS3 games can feel overwhelming, but if you’re trying to figure out which games are still worth your time, we’ve compiled a list of recommendations. We've also gathered a list of the best PS1 games and best PS2 games for the sake of nostalgia.
Action

Read more
PlayStation is testing adaptive controller charging in latest beta, but only for certain PS5s
The Playstation 5 system standing upright.

The latest PlayStation beta, announced Wednesday, will be introducing a bunch of in-progress features that better personalize your PlayStation 5 experience, including adaptive charging support for controllers — but only for the latest models.

Sony laid out the beta updates in a blog, but noted that adaptive charging, which will work on PS5-era controllers (although not the PlayStation Portal) and can adjust the power sent to them based on battery level, will only be available for the newest PS5 model, which is slimmer and has a larger internal SSD for more storage. Many newer phones have this feature so that the battery doesn't get overcharged and fried over time.

Read more