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The launch of PS4 has led to a sharp increase in operating revenue for Sony’s PlayStation unit.
Operating revenue grew 64.6 per cent to 441.8bn (2.67bn) for the quarter ending December 31st. Operating income grew over 290 per cent to 18bn (109m).
The discrepancy is due to the various costs associated with assembling and launching the new machine. Operating income was also dented by a 6.2bn write-off on certain PC titles sold by Sony Online Entertainment”.
Consolidated hardware sales for PS4, PS3 and PS2 hit 7.8m units for the quarter, up 1m units year-on-year. The company had previously confirmed 4.2m PS4 sales as of December 28th. That means PS3 and PS2 sales for the period were 3.6m, which is down from 6.8m in Q4 2012.
The company now aims to ship 5m PS4s by the end of its current fiscal year in March.
Combined Vita and PSP sales only hit 2m units, which was sharply down on last year’s 2.7m. Physical and digital games sales grew from 84m units to 126m.
Sony’s overall numbers saw a 23.9 per cent increase in operating revenue at 2.41tr (14bn). Operating income was 90.3bn (545m).
The company has also confirmed plans to sell-off its Vaio PC business and spin-off its TV division into a separate business unit. Its focus will instead shift to smartphones and tablets.
As a result Sony admits that around 5,000 workers are expected to lose their jobs by the end of fiscal 2014. 1,500 of those jobs will be in Japan and the rest from its international operations.
