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Its electronics and mobile divisions may be struggling, but it looks as if things are better than expected at Sony’s PlayStation division.
Sony Computer Entertainment boss Andrew House has told Reuters that the company’s gaming arm continues to exceed expectations, saying: "We raised our profit prediction and I hope that’s a trend we can continue, even within this fiscal year."
It has already increased its PlayStation forecasts once this year, upping it in July from 20bn to 25bn. Sony CEO Kaz Hirai now hopes that PS4 will match the accomplishments and profits enjoyed by the PS2.
Added House: "I do feel we have a higher opportunity to build a higher ARPU (average revenue per user) than with the PS3, and that should make a very strong profit contribution over the life-cycle."
The site says Sony’s now 10.3m PS4 unit sales are almost double” those of Xbox One and well ahead of Wii U’s 7.2m, with Nintendo’s machine of course having been on sale since 2012. Both PS4 and Xbox One went on sale in November 2013.
Sony was earlier this month forced to quadruple its loss estimates for the year ending March 2015 – the sixth revision since Hirai took overall charge of the company.
It also plans another 1,000 job cuts, this time culling its smartphone business.
