Sony Posts Fifth Loss in Six Years Despite Strong PS4 Sales

Sony has announced its fifth loss in six years despite the strong launch of the PS4 and rising mobile sales. 

The company's net loss for the fiscal year ending March 31st was $1.25 billion compared to net income of $406 million for the previous year. 

Annual sales rose 14.3 per cent and Sony attributed the increase to "primarily due to the favourable impact of foreign exchange rates, the launch of the PlayStation 4, as well as a significant increase in sales of smartphones". 

Sony Computer Entertainment and Sony Online Entertainment reported an operating loss of $79 million despite a year-on-year sales increase of 38.5 per cent to $9.6 billion.

The firm attributed the loss for its gaming section to costs associated with the launch of the PS4 and the write-off of certain SOE PC games. 

3.7 million home consoles were sold during the last quarter, an increase of 300,000 on the same period last year while full year console sales stood at 14,6 million, down from 16.5 million the year before.

PS3 hardware sales were down though software sales rose. Meanwhile, seven million PS4s were sold by April 6th. 

700,000 PSP, PS VIta, and PS Vita TV devices were sold during the quarter, down from 1.3 million. In total, portable system sales fell from seven million to 4.1 million and of that, 3.5 million were PS Vita sales.

Sony expects to sell 17 million PS3 and PS4 systems this fiscal year and three million portables.  

Software sales rose from 79 million units to 91 million for the quarter while full year game sales reached 374 million, up from 266 million the year before. 

The Wall Street Journal yesterday reported that Sony CEO Kaz Hirai and other executives will take a pay cut and forego bonuses due to the company's poor performance.