Sony reported a 10% increase in operating profit for the fiscal first quarter on Wednesday, surpassing analyst expectations due to significant growth in its gaming, music, and imaging chip businesses.
The Japanese technology giant’s music division, in particular, received a notable boost from the release of Beyoncé’s new album, “Cowboy Carter.”
Here’s how Sony performed in the June quarter compared to LSEG consensus estimates:
- Revenue: 3.01 trillion Japanese yen ($20.5 billion), versus 2.8 trillion yen expected, marking a 2% increase from the same period a year ago.
- Operating profit: 279.11 billion yen ($1.9 billion), versus 275.35 billion yen expected, up 10% year-over-year.
Sony attributed its first-quarter sales to significant increases in game and network services, music, and imaging and sensing solutions.
Sony’s gaming division, driven by its popular PlayStation consoles, recorded revenues of 864.9 billion yen in the quarter, up 12% from 771.9 billion yen a year ago. Meanwhile, the music and imaging sensor divisions saw revenue increases of 23% and 21%, respectively.
For the full year 2024, Sony revised its forecast upward, now expecting to achieve 12.6 billion yen in sales, a 2% increase from previous guidance. The company also raised its operating profit forecast by 3%, anticipating a consolidated operating profit of 1.3 trillion yen for the full year.
Sony Gets a Boost from Beyoncé
Within the music division, Sony benefited from new releases during the June quarter, including Beyoncé’s “Cowboy Carter,” Future & Metro Boomin’s “We Don’t Trust You,” and SZA’s “SOS.” “Cowboy Carter,” released in March, pays homage to Beyoncé’s hometown, Houston, Texas, and is one of the biggest releases of 2024 so far, alongside Taylor Swift’s “The Tortured Poets Department.”
Despite a disappointing full-year 2023 report in May, where Sony narrowly missed its target for annual PlayStation 5 sales, the company sold 2.4 million PlayStation 5 units in the June quarter. This was down from 3.3 million units sold in the same period a year ago. However, Sony saw a boost from software sales, even as hardware revenue lagged. The company reported an increase in sales of first-party game software titles and network services, primarily its PlayStation Plus subscription service.
PlayStation Plus is a membership program offering players access to online multiplayer and a selection of free titles each month. The numbers indicate a longer-term shift for the console industry, with gamers increasingly turning to digital downloads and subscription services, including cloud-based game streaming.
Shares of Sony closed flat in Tokyo on Wednesday. Japanese shares have experienced turbulence recently, with the blue-chip Nikkei logging its worst day since the 1987 Black Monday market crash on Monday.
