Sony’s networked products and services division, which houses the company’s PlayStation and PC businesses, increased sales and reduced its operating loss in the company’s first fiscal quarter ended June 30.
Sales were up 32.4 per cent year-on-year to 325.9 billion yen ($3.66 billion), while the division slimmed its operating loss from 36.7 billion yen a year earlier to 3.8 billion yen ($43 million), with PS3 hardware cost cutting cited as a contributing factor.
During the three month period Sony sold 2.4 million PS3 units, up from 1.1 million last year. PSP sales fell from 1.3 million to 1.2 million units, while PS2 sales were flat year-over-year at 1.6 million units.
PS3 software sales jumped from 14.8 million units last year to 24.8 million, PSP game sales rose from 8.3 million to 9.2 million, while PS2 software sales more than halved, from 8.5 million to 3.4 million units.
The wider Sony business posted a quarterly operating profit of 67 billion yen ($753m), compared to a loss of 25.7 billion yen a year earlier, while sales were up 3.8 per cent to 1.66 trillion yen ($18.7 billion). Net profit for the period hit 25.7 billion yen ($289 million).