Sony PS4 Shipments Hit 60 Million Globally As Profits Near 20-Year High

It is good to be a gamer, but it is even better to be the one serving the gaming market. Case in point, Sony posted results for its fiscal year ended March 31, 2017, and noted that it has now shipped 60 million PlayStation 4 consoles to date. That includes 20 million PS4 units this past year, with 2.9 million of those shipments coming in the final quarter of its fiscal year.

That is down from 9.7 million PS4 shipments in the previous quarter, though still higher than the 2.3 million it shipped in the final quarter of last year. More importantly, it means Sony was able to reach its goal of shipping 60 million PS4 consoles after having shipped a total of 50 million back in December. And compared to last year, Sony was able to increase its PS4 shipments by 2.3 million units.

Sony's Games and Network Services division reported profits of nearly 136 billion yen (around $1.2 billion in U.S. currency), up from 88.7 billion yen in the prior year. The increase in revenue and profit was mainly attributable to a jump in PS4 software sales, including sales through the network, with PS4 hardware sales adding to the tally as well. Looking ahead, Sony expects to ship another 18 million PS4 consoles in 2017. It also expects to see a 25 percent jump in profits in its Games and Network Services business.

Buoyed by strong PS4 hardware and software sales, Sony expects to keep the momentum going over the course of the next year and is forecasting an operating profit of 500 billion yen ($4.5 billion). That would be one of the highest it's been in the company's more than 70 years of existence. The only other time Sony posted an operating profit above 500 yen was for its fiscal year ended March 1998—it's operating profit reached 525.7 billion yen.

Sony's luck hasn't been as good in mobile where it observed a nearly 33 percent decline in revenue. According to Sony, the drop was primarily due to lackluster smartphone sales in Europe, the Middle East, and Latin America, along with "significant downsizing" in what it deemed to be unprofitable regions.