Sony posted its highest quarterly PS4 shipment since the holiday period last year. For the September quarter, the Japanese firm shipped 4.2 million units, up from 3.9 million units shipped during the same period last year. The company has now shipped 67.5 million Sony PS4 units worldwide.
Sony ups PS4 shipments forecasts
Upbeat from the robust sales, the Japanese company is eyeing to ship 19 million PS4 units by the end of its financial year, up from its previous forecast of 18 million. However, it is still down from the last fiscal year, when the company shipped 20 million PS4 units. It must be noted that the figures are for the units shipped to retailers, rather than units bought by the consumer. Still, it is a fair gauge to measure the health of the company.
Sony this time revealed numbers for the Game & Network Services segment, which is PlayStation and the PlayStation Network combined. The sales for the segment surged 35.4% year on year to 433.2 billion yen boosted by the increase in PlayStation software sales, the impact of foreign exchange rates and the hardware sales.
Sony noted that the increase in the overall sales was partially offset by the rise in selling costs, as well as general and administrative expenses. During the quarter, a positive impact of 3.1 billion yen was seen due to the foreign exchange rate fluctuations.
For the year ending in March, the Japanese firm now forecasts a profit of 630 billion yen (US $5.57 billion), up from its previous estimate of 500 billion yen. If achieved, Sony would beat its previous best of 526 billion yen in March 1998. The strong performance in 1998 was marked by the sale of the first PlayStation console and the box-office hit Men in Black, notes The Economic Times.
Nintendo Switch – a big threat to Sony PS4
Analysts are expecting that the Sony PS4 will sell more than 100 million units in its lifetime, making it the best-selling console in history. However, going into the holiday season, Nintendo Switch will be the biggest threat to the Sony PS4. Nintendo Switch is just about six months old, but has already sold 7.63 million units up to September. The Switch sales are so strong that Nintendo is falling short on the supply. However, the Japanese console maker is determined to ramp up the production for the holidays.
According to the market research firm, The NPD Group, the Switch has been America’s number one console for the past three months. And, since its launch, it has topped the U.S. hardware charts for five months.
Meanwhile, PS4 gamers have a few last days to get a dose of some spooky titles this Halloween. The sale, which ends November 1, is offering titles like Resident Evil 7, Dar Souls 3, Fortnite and Mortal Kombat XL at a discounted price. “We have a host of full game titles and select add-on content available on offer across PS4, PS3 and PS Vita,” reads a Sony blog post.
On Monday, Sony’s shares closed up 2.70% at $38.85. Year to date, the stock is up almost 39%, while in the last three months, it is down over 5%. In pre-market trading today, the stock is up almost 7%.
