PlayStation pushes Sony's sales forecast up

Sony isn't scheduled to report its fiscal year-end results until next week, but the company today gave investors a heads up that the numbers will be better than expected.

For the full-year ended March 31, Sony now forecasts overall sales of ¥8.21 trillion ($68.49 billion), up from the ¥8 trillion ($66.73 billion) it projected in February. The bottom line also improved, but Sony is still forecasting a loss of ¥126 billion ($1.05 billion), as opposed to the ¥170 billion ($1.42 billion) loss it previously expected. The jump was attributed to increased sales in a number of Sony's businesses, including its music, cameras, and gaming segments.

Sony didn't break out the numbers on exactly how much of the revenue increase was attributable to better-than-expected game sales, but the company has raised its gaming segment revenue forecast on three separate occasions in the last year. Last May, Sony projected its Game & Network Services segment to bring in ¥20 billion ($166.83 million) in operating profit on ¥1.22 trillion ($10.18 billion) in sales. By the February forecast--which today's announcement suggests was still underestimating actual performance--that had changed to ¥40 billion ($333.67 million) in operating profit on ¥1.38 trillion ($11.51 billion) in sales. With each revision, the strong performance of the PlayStation 4 was cited as a primary driver for the increase in expected revenues.

Sony's official results for the year ended March 31 are expected to be announced next Thursday, April 30.