Sony has released its earnings report for the fiscal year 2010 ending on March 31, 2011. Total sales for the company came in at ¥7.18 trillion ($86.5 billion), a negligible change from ¥7.2 trillion ($88.7 billion) in the previous fiscal year. Operating income was up to ¥199.8 billion ($2.4 billion), more than five times higher than ¥31.8 billion ($390 million) year-over-year. Unfortunately, net losses took a dive to ¥259.6 billion ($3.1 billion), far worse than net losses of ¥40.8 billion ($501.3 million) the previous year.
Sony’s Networked Products & Services Division, which contains the PlayStation brand, proved to be a winner for the company. Sales mirrored those of the overall company, with ¥1.58 trillion ($19 billion) in total, up a mere 0.4 percent from the previous year. The division dug itself out of a hole with a net income of ¥35.6 billion ($429 million), as opposed to losses of ¥83.3 billion ($1.02 billion) in the previous year.
“The increase in consolidated operating income was driven primarily by improved results in the Networked Products & Services segment due principally to the contribution of the game business,” wrote Sony in its Consolidated Results presentation.
The PlayStation 3 sold 14.3 million units, up from 13 million in the previous fiscal year. Software sales saw a similar rise with 147.9 million units sold, over 115.6 million in fiscal year 2009.
The PlayStation Portable’s sales were down to 8 million, a 1.9 million drop year-over-year, but software rose 2.2 million units to sit at 46.6 million for the year. The PlayStation 2’s sales were 6.4 million, and software sales were more than halved with a drop to 16.4 million units, as opposed to 35.7 million in the previous year.
Heading into fiscal year 2011, Sony expects to sell 15 million PlayStation 3 systems, 6 million PSPs, and 4 million PS2s. Oddly enough, the Sony NGP system was not mentioned in projections, even though the system is still on track for the end of this year. The company mentioned that the PSN attacks would impact the operating income for the fiscal year. Total sales are forecasted at ¥7.5 trillion ($92.1 billion) for the year.
“Sales are expected to increase year-on-year primarily due to higher sales in the game business, PCs and network services. In contrast, operating income is expected to significantly decrease, primarily due to lower unit sales of PSP (PlayStation Portable) and PS2 hardware and software, as well as expenses associated with the unauthorized access to Sony’s PlayStation Network, Qriocity and Sony Online Entertainment network services,” wrote Sony.
