Sony Playstation Chief: Hopes Games Unit Can Raise Profit Outlook This Year

Sony Corp’s game division head said he hopes the unit can raise its profit outlook for a second time this financial year as sales of the latest PlayStation console and subscription services for games and other content far exceed expectations.

Andrew House, chief executive officer of Sony Computer Entertainment, also told Reuters in an interview on Thursday that he was certain the game division would further increase its operating profit next year.

The division raised its operating profit outlook for the current year to next March to 25 billion yen ($230 million) from 20 billion when it last reported earnings in July.

Sony had sold more than 10 million PlayStation 4 game consoles as of Aug. 13.

House also said that Sony’s cloud-based TV service, due to be launched in the United States before the end of the year, was an opportunity to expand the user base of its network services, now at 52 million, and that the firm was looking for more content providers after inking a deal with Viacom last week to stream 22 of its channels.

Source : Reuters