PlayStation income drops 60% in Q1 but sales rise
PS4 shipments hit 63.3m
Sony's Game and Network Services division generated 17.7bn Yen (£160.5m) in income for the financial quarter ending June 30th, a drop of 59.7% over the year before.
The reason will be due to the absence of a major triple-A PS4 release during the three month period. Sony launched Uncharted 4 in May last year, which has gone on to sell around 10m units.
The company's income was also hit by a price cut to PS4, which took place in September 2016.
Nevertheless, it's not bad news for the company. Overall, the division's sales are up 5.4% to 348bn Yen ($3.2bn), primarily due to PS4 software sales, although PlayStation VR also boosted this figure, the company said.
Overall, revenue from hardware dropped 17.5%, whereas software revenue jumped 34.2%. This is to be expected, with Sony estimating a slight slowdown in PS4 sales over the next financial year.
PS4 shipments currently sit at 63.3m.
The remainder of the year may prove to be a healthy one for PlayStation, with a number of first-party titles to capitalise on the PS4's strong install base - including a budget priced Uncharted release and Gran Turismo Sport, two of the biggest brands in Sony's portfolio.
In addition, it will be looking to push both its VR offering and its new 4K PS4 Pro this Christmas as stock becomes more readily available.