PlayStation sales rose 5.4% in Q1, but operating income dropped by 59.7%

Sony released its Q1 fiscal year 2017 results this morning and sales from its game and network services division rose 5.4 per cent year-on-year to 348.1bn.

This was due to an increase in PS4 software sales and PS VR sales, but its growth was offset by the impact of the PS4’s price reduction that took place in September 2016.

This also had an effect on the division’s operating income as well, which decreased 59.7 per cent year-on-year to 17.7bn. Lower hardware prices wasn’t the only contributing factor here, however, as Sony also noted "the absence of the significant contribution of a highly profitable first-party software title" compared to the same period last year. Sony, of course, released Uncharted 4 in May 2016, which has since gone on to sell 8.7m units as of December 2016. There was also a 2.4bn negative impact from foreign exchange rate fluctuations.

Elsewhere, hardware revenue dropped by 17.5 per cent, while network revenue rose by 34.2 per cent.

That said, Sony’s FY2017 forecast has been revised upward in both circumstances, with sales receiving a 4.8 per cent upward revision to 1,980bn due to a predicted positive impact of foreign exchange rates.

Operating income, meanwhile, has been given a 10bn upward revision to 180bn, again due to the positive impact of foreign exchange rates.