PlayStation 4 Sales A Bright Spot As Sony Descends To Junk Status

The PlayStation 4 continues to sell beyond expectations and has turned into a significant source of sales for Sony. The company released its financial results for its second fiscal quarter ending September 30, 2014 to reveal that the console was an island of positivity in an otherwise disappointing overall loss for the company. Sales in the game division increased 83.2 percent over the same time last year thanks in large part to the releases of Destiny and FIFA 15.

According to Sony’s financial report, the company recorded an 85.6 billion yen ($766.60 million USD) operation loss thanks to losses and restructuring in the mobile segment. Sony was gunning to become the third largest player in the mobile market behind Apple and Samsung, but has been forced to re-evaluate that goal now. The company is now “on track to lose a staggering $2.1 billion this fiscal year,” according to CNN Money, and have its credit rating downgraded to “junk” status by a third rating agency.

The PlayStation 4 was a bright spot for the company though along with its Financial Services division with 3.3 million consoles shipped during the period. The Game & Network Services division saw a sales increase of 74 percent year-over-year for the second quarter with an operating income of 21.8 billion yen ($200 million USD). By comparison, the division reported an operating loss of $4.2 billion yen ($37.62 million USD) the previous year prior to the PlayStation 4’s launch.

“This significant increase was primarily due to the contribution from PS4 hardware sales,” Sony’s quarterly report states, “a significant increase in network services revenue related to the introduction of the PS4 and the contribution from PS4 software sales, partially offset by a decrease in PlayStation 3 (‘PS3’) hardware and PS3 software sales.”

In a question and answer session during its financial earnings call captured by Seeking Alpha, CFO Kenichiro Yoshida credited new game releases for helping drive PlayStation 4 sales.

“I think that the largest driver of the Game momentum is actually a software title, particularly in September, we released — there is a release by Activison of a title named Destiny as well as FIFA,” Yoshida said in response to a question. “And those 2 titles enhanced the momentum quite significantly.”

Yoshida also revealed that the total number of PS Plus subscribers has reached 7.9 million. That’s a little more than half of all the PlayStation 4 consoles shipped (13.5 million).

Sony is planning to launch the PlayStation 4 in China early in 2015, giving it another source of revenue. Microsoft has already made its move by releasing the Xbox One in the country but still trails the competition handily worldwide primarily due to European sales.

Can the PlayStation 4 help Sony overcome its “staggering” losses and junk status rating? Sound off in the comments below.

[Images via Sony]