Strong PS4 sales unable to stop Sony posting another loss

Sony’s gaming division has, as expected, posted its fourth annual loss in five years.

Net losses totalled 128.4bn for the year ending March 31st. Operating income fell by 200bn to 26.5bn.

Sony’s games division reported an operating loss of 8.1bn, down from last year’s 1.7bn profit, a figure mostly blamed on costs associated with launching PS4 and the closure of several Sony Online Entertainment titles. Revenue climbed 38.5 per cent to 979.2bn, however.

When combined sales of PS4 and PS3 reached 14.6m units – 7m of which were PS4 – although that was down year-on-year from 16.5m. It forecasts sales of 17m units for the current financial year.

Combined sales of Vita, Vita TV and PSP fell from 7m last year to just 4.1m. Q4 sales fell from 1.3m to 700k. For the year ahead Sony foresees further decline, with predicted handheld sales of 3.5m units – that’s less than the number of Wii Us Nintendo hopes to sell in the period.

It was reported yesterday that Hirai and other top Sony execs will this year forgo their bonuses and endure a 50 per cent dock in wages to compensate for the poor performance.