On Thursday, Sony Group Corporation shares spiked more than 8% after the brand bumped its 2024 profit forecast. The international brand raised its projected sales figures by 2%, shifting its expected sales for 2024 to a staggering 1.34 trillion yen — or around $8.7 billion. Sony names its gaming and music sectors and its network services as instrumental in its success.
Gaming Sector Named Sony’s Biggest Winner
Sony’s still-consistent PlayStation 5 console sales throughout the 2024 Christmas season boosted the brand’s gaming profits by 37% to around $770 million.
Sony sold nearly 10 million PlayStation 5 consoles in the 2024 October-December quarter, 1.3 million more than they sold during the same time in 2023. Increased revenue from add-on content and third-party games also contributed. Additionally, Sony’s music division saw a similar but smaller surge.
Despite the success of its gaming and music sectors, slumping Sony Pictures Entertainment profits slowed overall growth. Ultimately, high costs associated with theatrical releases — marketing, licensing, and the like — are to blame. The division’s revenue increased to about $2.58 billion, contrasting with its deflated operating income of $220.8 million. Despite Sony’s generally successful third-party acquisitions, like anime streaming service Crunchyroll, operating costs decreased profitability.
Sony’s Next Steps
Seemingly pulling a page from Nintendo’s book, Sony Corp.’s new president and CEO, Hiroki Totoki, is navigating the brand’s gaming division toward more family-friendly releases. In a recent earnings call, Totoki sang the praises of all-ages platformer Astro Bot. Despite its modest budget and team size, the 3D platformer was the winningest title at The Game Awards 2024.
Totoki spoke of the Game of the Year winner, saying, “The fact that titles in genres we are planning to expand in the future, including titles for families and live service games, have received these awards is a major stride towards building a broad title portfolio.”
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A lifelong gamer raised on classic titles like Crash Bandicoot, Spyro, and Croc, Stephanie brings her expertise of gaming and pop culture to deliver unique, refreshing views on the world of video games, complete with references to absurd and obscure media.
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